


A Gift from A Far Away World

by lunaryu (zeroshikidarkangel)



Category: Seven Knights (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drama, Humor, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-13
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2018-11-13 17:52:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 96,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11190267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zeroshikidarkangel/pseuds/lunaryu
Summary: In which Kris is blown into a universe where there's no magic, monster, dragon and war all around the continents, and things that he 'supposedly' should be worried about are: his grades, family's expectations, and apparently his not-so-little crush on Rudy. Oh, and surprisingly, Dellons isn't villainous in this universe, just an A-grade asshole that has a strange fixation with flirting with him.What is wrong with this world?





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer: Seven Knights and the characters belong to NetMarble Games.** And luna only plays and makes AU story for these great adorable hot guys.
> 
>  **Warning:** _AU (because it's definitely funnier that way), shounen ai (it's my guilty pleasure, if you're not into it, just push the back button), a bit of violence (because these guys are from fighting RPG game), probably OOC at some parts and some BG stories might differ from canon universe (because I only watched the short movie in Seven Knights Story and my interpretation could be different to fit in this fic plot), minor OCs and…spelling and grammar errors (I'll try to be careful with them)._
> 
>  **A/N:** Because even though this fandom is a mobile game, those characters are too HOT to be left alone. If you don't know the game and the characters, just think of it as an original piece (since I will include some of the background stories in this fic). Also, you should totally play the game (because it's AWESOME and even not-a-gamer like me get addicted for god sake).
> 
> Aaand, we probably should start now… ENJOY!

**A Gift from A Far Away World—a Seven Knights Fanfiction**

© lunaryu

**Prologue**

* * *

When Kris opened his ruby colored eyes, he did _not_ recognize the ceiling he was greeted with.

 _What?_ —He blinked once, twice, and promptly froze in his prone position. The high white ceiling didn't blur and disappear into the darkness of his castle in Revengers Hell, or the open blue sky of Terra Kingdom prairie that he last remembered where he had been supposed to be. It wasn't even remotely close to the structure and color of the ceiling of _his_ room back in his noble family castle.

Kris was a calm person by nature, but even that as it may, this picture was too bizarre for him to comprehend. Though, he realized fully that panicking wouldn't help him in anyway, so he opted to stay composed and tried to assess the situation as much as he could before panicking for real or better, finding solution for this 'problem'.

Kris tested his motor functions. His limbs could move just fine. He wasn't restrained in any way and actually felt warm and comfortable enough where he laid down. The mattress was soft and when he decided to sit up, there was neither pain nor fatigue that usually accompanied his waking up time.

It was the side effect of 'death curse buff' that his body bore after he was infected by the darkness of Revengers Hell Old Ruined Castle. With the power of darkness, he could inflict 'death curse' to his opponent with the strike of his sword. Only with two strikes, he could kill any enemy regardless of their health or power. After Dellons so manipulatively convinced him that Rudy was to blame for the death of his subordinates… Kris still couldn't believe he was so stupid to even remotely trust that bastard.

Kris almost ruined his treasured friendship with his best friend since he was a kid. He even drew his sword and attacked Rudy, trying to avenge his subordinates' massacre in blind rage. Rudy… he looked confused and most-likely hurt by Kris' allegation, but instead of attacking back, he just defended his life with his shield, inactivated still, and tried to talk him down with soft words. If it hadn't been because of the negative-death-inducing energy Kris unleashed to the world, Rudy might actually let himself be slashed by his Strike of Darkness, but Rudy had duty to protect his people too, so he finally—in desperation if his expression was to go by—returned Kris's attack with his own Rush.

Kris wasn't ashamed that he was defeated, just despaired that he couldn't avenge his men's death at the time. Yet again Rudy, instead of killing him because the punishment for treason was 'death' by default, knelt down and held him close. He told Kris that he never went to Revengers Hell when Kris' men were murdered, that he was with the others in the main castle of Terra Kingdom, summoned by their king, and the higher ups were suspecting that Kris was the criminal because he planned to overthrow the kingdom since he was the only missing knight when all the Seven Knights were supposed to be in the summit, but Rudy didn't believe any of those rumors.

Kris knew about the suspicion on him. That was one of the reasons why he decided to follow Dellons' advice to hide himself and to cultivate more of the dark power in Revengers Hell in the first place, while being fed with vague _misleading_ information that the trace of power which slaughtered his people had the 'light' attribute.

'Light' was always associated with Rudy in their circle since his title was the Light Guardian. Light was Rudy's most prominent power in giving his earth element the most energy. Light was Rudy, in contrast with Kris' dark element which leeched most power from the darkness.

At first Kris didn't believe that Rudy could do something as cruel as killing people without reason, but at the time, Kris was grieving and angry, and Dellons' words were poison to his fragile, unstable mind. Besides, he desperately wanted to blame someone and even though Rudy was his best friend, Kris was always compared to him by his own noble family who disliked Rudy because _he_ was chosen as the leader of the Seven Knights and not Kris, despite Kris status, which was clearly from a noble family, and Rudy was an orphan and a commoner. Kris was too blinded with fury to see the loophole and to consider that the 'light' attribute wasn't exclusively Rudy's, since Dellons' offensive element also derived power from light instead of darkness. Worse, Dellons had a silver tongue. His reasoning and argument always sounded very convincing that people tended to believe him in the end despite their initial doubt.

Kris had always liked Rudy. He was nice and kind like a saint. He was cheery, always speaking truthfully with his heart and with his eyes looking straight into whoever he was talking to, seeing them for _who_ they are instead of _what_ they are. And Rudy protected people instead of destroying enemies. He was a people person, so people could trust him easily. Rudy was suited to lead them. All of Seven Knights, even Kris admitted it. However, he also always had a complicated feeling about his best friend, because he was the reason why Kris noble family always pressured him to do better, to aim higher, and to beat Rudy at _anything_. It was exhausting and wasn't helping his low self esteem issue. Dellons took advantage of that.

Kris was never good at defending himself. He tended to be quiet and ignore it when people belittled him. He refused to boast about his accomplishment because he was the kind of guy who showed result by doing it rather than making any promise to do it. Yes, Kris was a noble, an elite, very powerful and more than enough to be a guardian of one of the main lands in Terra Kingdom even. He was one of _the_ Seven Knights. Still, it was a fact that the human residence of Terra Kingdom liked Rudy better than they liked Kris, that Kris power was scary since it dealt more with black magic and death curse. People feared Kris from the start; even his appearance scared them away. He was extremely pale and his red eyes were uncommon among humans. He was unearthly beautiful, people said, too inhuman to love like a normal person, even most of his men, the people that he led and protected weren't 100 percent human. Ordinary human chose to leave him alone instead of approaching him. So, being always compared to Rudy was a given looking how opposite to each other they were, in looks, in power attributes, and in personalities.

The more Kris drowned in his dark negative thought, the easier Dellons planted the seed of doubt inside his trust in Rudy and by the time those darkness overwhelmed Kris, he was hellbent on killing Rudy as a sole person responsible for all those sufferings Kris felt all his life, especially by killing his men.

Kris was truly a fool. After all those dark power fled his vassal as he exhausted his last energy, he could finally see Rudy's expression. How sad and miserable he looked. How desperate he seemed, trying to _save_ Kris from this mess. Bane, that traitorous King of Ghoul, had betrayed Kris in the heat of his battle with Rudy and Kris almost died because of the death curse cast by Bane himself as per Dellons' order. Kris was just a distraction because when Rudy was busy dealing with Kris, Dellons could do whatever evil deeds he had planned to do since the best protector of Terra Kingdom was too occupied to noticed him. Dellons had used him to evade direct confrontation with Rudy and now Dellons was MIA while Kris was arrested for committing treason. Attacking the main castle of Terra Kingdom in broad day light was monumentally stupid and the witnesses mostly deemed Kris guilty on spot.

Kris almost lost everything, his life, his status, and worse, _Rudy_. It was a really close call. Fortunately, mostly thanks to Rudy defending him in his trial by testifying that Kris was under the influence of dark power and Dellons mind game, that the judge decided he wasn't guilty enough to be given a death sentence. Well, he was still thoroughly questioned about his involvement in his men annihilation and how far he was aware of Dellons' evil plot. He answered everything he could and swore to God that he would kill Dellons himself if he ever crossed path with the bastard again.

However, despite his aloof demeanor on the outside, Kris though… felt guilty as hell towards Rudy afterward. He couldn't even look at him in the eye anymore. Not only because he regretted accusing Rudy and attacking him with intention of killing him, but also despite every wrong he did to him, Rudy still smiled and comforted him, still cared and stayed by his side the whole time he was on trial. Kris was grateful a lot, but it was difficult for him to accept it. He felt wholeheartedly undeserving of such kindness. Rudy was too kind for his own good.

After that, while Kris was recovering, Rudy went back to his duty to protect the kingdom. He wanted to pursue Dellons because apparently, he was stirring things in Silent Mine and Blazing Dessert that almost caused a civil war between Eileen and Rachel, two others of the Seven Knights, the respective guardians of those lands. But the monsters from all around the kingdom began to get crazy and attacking humans indiscriminately that Rudy was stuck in the main land, trying to help and protect as many people as possible from monsters' attack as per order of Commander Aragon who received a direct mandate from the King.

In the end the task was left to Evan (Rudy's friend back from the village he was born) and his gang, Snipper (a hunter), Karin (a healer), Hellenia (an earth maiden) and Jupy (a forest elf), but only to stop the impending war between Eileen and Rachel and by no any mean they were allowed to pursue Dellons without one or more of the Seven Knights.

But enough with those. The more Kris thought about the unraveling plot in their bizarre life, the harder it was to explain. They were too complicated and he still had no idea why Dellons betrayed them all. The Seven Knights should be like a family. Even though some of them were complicated and had many issues, and some were not getting along, they were chosen to be the protectors of their kingdom. They shared the same fate and oath, so Dellons must have had a reason that he did what he did, as unreasonable and as wicked as it was.

Dellons mentioned something about pieces of Power of Destruction and whatever he planned to do with it couldn't be virtuous. But he also said that the Seven Knights' power was derived from the God of Destruction itself and he only did what he supposed to. Kris and the others couldn't understand it. What they knew was, what Dellons was about to do would bring destruction to the world and he had to be stopped no matter what. Dellons even involved the other continents kingdom in his plot and it was a big mess all over. They doubted it could all be solved by capturing or killing Dellons anymore.

Kris shook his head to clear his muddled, depressing thought. Those facts were not related with Kris' situation at this moment. Kris looked around him. He was in some kind of bedroom, decent size, painted entirely white from floor to ceiling. The floor was tiled and looked unnaturally clean. All the furniture were also in light color like the dresser on his right side, in creamy yellow, and the wardrobe on his left, in light brown. A varnished wooden study desk perched beside the filing cabinet near the dresser, also in light, creamy color, a mix of brown and yellow. The only color that was dark enough to note was the bed. The sheet were pitch black and the blanket was no different, black colored dashed with dark red in the middle.

It looked like a room of a student. Kris didn't know why he _knew_ this. This was supposed to be strange and unfamiliar because he had never been here in his life, but he instinctively _knew_ this room belonged to him.

"What's going on here?" he couldn't help mumbling. As he was about to bring his hand to his head because it started to throb for some unfathomable reason, Kris noticed that his hand and arm looked lankier than it was supposed to. "What the—?" He looked at his other arm before he yanked the blanket off and stared in horror at his smaller feet and thinner body.

Kris got off of the bed and hurriedly stood in front of a full body mirror embedded in his wardrobe. His distinctive silver platinum blond and ruby eyes were still the same, but he looked so much _younger_ than his actual age. There was no evidence of his years of training as a warrior and all the scars he got from his previous fights were non-existent.

"What in the world…!?"

Well, now seemed to be the right time to panic. He apparently was in someone else body. He meant, the face was Kris', there was no doubt of it, but over all, it wasn't _him_. Kris looked at his reflection in the mirror. He was bare chested, so he could inspect the part thoroughly. It really was free of scar. His complexion was as pale as his original body, but it seemed smoother and fairer, _healthy_ , instead of deathly pale. There was even a tint of pink, especially around his nipples, it was actually embarrassing staring at his own body like this. Kris sighed and staggered back to bed. He sat down and held his head on his hands.

_Come on now, Kris. Calm down and start to think! What's the last time I remember before I woke up here?_

Kris tried to rationalize it. It might have been a dream. He pinched his arm. It hurt. Not a dream then. Something else… something else… a black magic that swap minds and bodies? But it didn't explain that it was still Kris' body, only altered. Besides, he didn't remember any person that could do it. Not even Vellika could. And this room... it couldn't be Kris' because he didn't remember having a room decorated like this, but his _gut_ told him it was his for some reason.

It just didn't make any sense. Kris remembered walking around the prairie of Mystic Woods in Terra Kingdom, about to see Rudy and the other Seven Knights because they needed a plan to stop Dellons, and then… _what?_

Kris remembered that there was a distortion in the air when he stepped into the grassland. Rudy was at the other side of the woods, talking to Rachel and Eileen was on his other side, inspecting some flowers hanging off a tree branch. Jave was further away from the three, tending to Red, his dragon, and Spike was seated on a rock a few feet away from him. Kris was about to approach them when the distortion got bigger and then there was a very bright blue-purplish light on the sky and when Kris woke up, he was already here.

 _Distortion of space and time continuum?_ —Kris didn't know why he understood the term, but he did. So… _alternate universe_. That light and the distortion of space… he was _blown_ into another world… and timeline, judging from his younger look.

Kris glanced once again at the mirror. _Yep, definitely younger_. Now, what to do with this information. He knew he was in alternate universe Kris' body. What kind of life did this Kris have here? He supposed it would be wiser if he kept this to himself. If other people knew about it… the _law_ in this world would be disturbed. This could lead into another world crisis and Kris had had enough dealing with one in his original world.

"Time for information hunting then." Kris decided. He had calmed down enough to accept that he had to be careful in threading his steps in this world. No one should know that he wasn't _this world_ _Kris_. He would find out more about this Kris while trying to get back to his original world. There should be a way to do that. Kris would find it.

Kris nodded. Plan secured, he stood once again and approached his wardrobe. He supposed he could start by wearing decent clothes. He opened the wardrobe door and found some clothes with soft materials. No chain-mail and armor, just plain cloth… how did people in this world defend themselves if they were attacked wearing these flimsy clothes? Kris frowned as he touched the material. "I suppose this will do if I'm careful not to attract attention of the wrong kind of monsters…" _Are there even monsters here?_ -he couldn't help thinking as Kris chose a jumper with black color with some white stripes on the chest part. It looked kind of like a spine and ribs, only in pictures. Weird, it almost looked like his own armor but made of cloth. He paired the jumper with a pair of black jeans (Kris had given up on taking notes on how he knew the name of those clothes. He blamed it on body memory of this world Kris).

Next, he checked out the dresser and its drawers contents. He found some information regarding this world Kris from his id card and some papers. His full name was Kris Tenebra. He was 19, a college student majoring in theoretical Physics. From the schedule he found pinned in one of the drawer, he had class today at 10 a.m.

Kris glanced at the analog clock on the wall above the door that, he suspected, would lead him out from his room. It was half past 8. He still had roughly an hour and a half to rummage around more before his class started. After investigating some more, Kris found his homework on the study desk that seemed to be due today. There was a pair of sneakers beside his wardrobe and he had pictures of his friends with names to refer and occasions of when and where they were taken pinned on the board above his study desk.

Then, there was also a silver framed photo on his desk. From the spot it was placed, this Kris seemed to treasure it. He placed it so strategically so he could look at it anytime he was on his bed or when he was studying.

Kris took the framed photo and widened his eyes a bit when he found a familiar face in it. It was a younger version of Rudy, dark brown hair, kind amber eyes, smiling wide to the camera while posing 'v' with both hands in front of his chest, and there was this Kris beside him, also smiling though softer while making 'v' gesture behind Rudy's head so it looked like Rudy had rabbit ears from upfront.

Kris couldn't help the small fond smile that crept up to his face. Even in this world, he and Rudy were best friend, huh?

Kris put the picture back to its place and clenched his fist a bit in resolution. He needed to go home, where his Rudy was.

 _Huh? …_ His _Rudy?_ — Kris blinked as he repeated the possessive pronoun in his mind. Then he promptly blushed in bewilderment as his heart started to pick up pace. _Don't be silly! Rudy isn't mine. What am I thinking?_

Kris didn't understand why he felt like this. Rudy was his friend, his _best friend_. He had no reason to think of him so possessively. He just referred him as _his_ Rudy because he was the Rudy from his original world. Yes, that must have been it.

But somehow… Kris had a nagging gut feeling (again) that _that_ wasn't the only reason.

Kris had always liked Rudy. He just didn't dare to think too deeply about how _much_ he liked him. Because in that way laid a can of more complicated feelings that should never be opened. Kris had enough problems to deal with as it was, he didn't need to add to his misery by acknowledging that he might have a crush on his best friend.

Nope. Not at all.

Kris decided to ignore it. He was always good at ignoring things that were better to be ignored. A few minutes later, Kris was ready to start his day. He memorized faces and names from the pinned up photographs, also taking special notes to remember the occasions because they seemed to be important. He also noticed that it wasn't just Rudy whom he recognized from the other photos. All the Seven Knights were there, so he assumed they were in the same circle of friends. Even Dellons was there.

 _Ugh, seeing his smug face pisses me off_ —Kris, although he had been reasonable enough to think that Dellons might have had his reason to do what he did, still couldn't forgive the bastard for killing his men.

When Kris went berserk because of the dark power, he mostly blamed himself for not being able to protect them, for not being there when they needed him the most, and he projected that self-hatred towards Rudy because of Dellons manipulation, but now he mostly stopped that degrading thought about himself. He still regretted it, but Rudy had pounded it into his head that Kris wasn't to blame for that, that his men would have been heartbroken had they been still alive and known that Kris hated himself because of them.

Besides, it was finally clear who to blame. It was all Dellons and his cronies doing anyway, so Kris should just focus on getting Dellons to pay for what he had done. Now, Kris had two life goals. One was stopping Dellons and the other… giving his men justice that they deserved.

And to be able to do that, he had to come back to his original world. This Kris majored in theoretical Physics. Maybe he had some kind of breakthrough regarding theory of time and space continuum manipulation. Maybe it was an experiment gone wrong from this side. Kris had to find out. He would be damned if he was stuck in this universe. He _would_ definitely go home to his original world no matter what it took.

Now, armed with backpack filled with necessary items to get through his class, Kris stepped out of his room. "Time for the game to play."

**End of Prologue**

  **Tbc...**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is the prologue. Question? Con-crit? Please hit that review button to start the discussion.
> 
> **Teaser:**
> 
> "Good morning, Princess!"
> 
> Kris' inner world turned upside down as his greatest enemy (in his original world) greeted him with such gentleman smile while winking and holding his waist and hand teasingly, like he was about to dance waltz with him instead of bodily drag him.
> 
>  _Calm down! He's not that Dellons! He's a Dellons from this world. Not an enemy, Kris! Just an acquaintance!_ —his inner monologue and argument didn't help ceasing the goosebumps blooming on his body. All his neurons screamed for him to punch the guy in the face for touching him alone after all.
> 
> "My, you're as coolly beautiful as always. It makes me want to mess you up so bad, kitten," Dellons gentleman's look promptly turned leering in a second and a vein of irritation instantly popped up on Kris's head.
> 
> "I see that you're a crazy bastard in here too." Kris deadpanned before he purposely stepped on Dellons' toe.


	2. Round 1: Living an Ordinary Life with Ordinary People

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kris is adjusting. Meeting the other Seven Knights. Dealing with mundane world in general... and Dellons. Damn it. Oh, not to mention reacting weirdly to Rudy. Double damn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Disclaimer and Warning: _See Prologue_**
> 
> **A/N:** Alright, Seven Knights mania, girls, boys, whoever loves this game and has interest in Rudy/Kris pairing or Dellons/Kris or Spike/Jave (yep, already plotting other pairings too), here’s Round 1 of this fic. I warn you that nothing major happens (yet) in this fic because it deals more with how Kris adjusts to his (new) life as an ordinary human in ordinary world (no monster, magic and dragon, really). I promise neither tricky nor shocking revelation at all (you have my word) and whoever can guess ‘the gift’ I’m talking about in the title will be rewarded with a one-shot of this series with any pairing they like. So, without further ado, please… enjoy!

**A Gift from A Far Away World—a Seven Knights Fanfiction**

© lunaryu

**Round 1: _Living an Ordinary Life with Ordinary People_**

* * *

Kris opened his room door and stopped dead in his track as he was immediately faced with a knuckled fist. His first instinct was to catch the hand and deliver a counter attack of the ambush, but before he could react accordingly, the fist stopped, followed by a- “Whoops!” a surprised yelp. “That was close.” The hand was immediately retracted, revealing—

“Jave?” Kris recognized the purple haired guy instantly. Even though he looked younger and his hair was distinctly longer than _the Jave_ from his original world—here, it reached his shoulder, while _there_ it only reached his lower neck—, those enticing amber eyes were the same as always.

Kris noted that Jave’s eye color looked almost the same as Rudy’s, but in closer inspection, it was a shade lighter, almost dark yellow, more like the color of honey. In his original world, Jave was considered cute rather than handsome, appearance and nature wise. He was almost as tall as Kris, only 1 cm shorter, and coincidentally, he was also the youngest of the Seven nights. Here, with his even _younger_ look, he was even cuter.

“Sorry about that, Kris. I was about to wake you up if you were still in bed,” Jave said, smiling sheepishly.

Original Jave’s personality was probably as friendly as Rudy’s even though he _hated_ human at first. Rumor said he was abandoned by his human parents in the land of Dragon Ruins when he was still a baby and then raised by the dragon guardians, so Jave didn’t exactly consider himself human initially; didn’t even know that other humans exists outside his land, until he was 6 or 7. He met a traveler from another province and then out of curiosity followed him into a human village once. However, it seemed that he was shunned by the villagers because of his strange clothes and his supernatural power (he could talk to animals and influence nature to do his bidding). Jave was hurt deeply by their rejection, hence his hostility and avoidance towards other human beings in general after that. Later though, after he got the dragon egg and hatched Red from it, then met the other Seven Knights and became the knight himself, he became warmer to them, especially to Spike and Rudy. As far as Kris knew, Spike and Jave were best friends if the story that Jave stopping Spike from being an Ice Berserker was true.

Kris hoped _this Jave_ weren’t much different from the original Jave. Kris wasn’t ready to talk to him if he was. He would blow his secret as not _this world Kris_ right away if he acted differently to this Jave after all.

“No problem,” Kris spoke as clearly as possible, but not too loud. He controlled his expression to be indifferent, but not dismissive. Jave was his friend. He had to be used to his presence if they lived in the same building.

“It’s your turn to make breakfast after all,” Jave’s smile widened slightly as he offered Kris an apron, which was _frilly_ , in _pink_ color and – _were those laces at the back side?_

“What.” Kris deadpanned, looking at the offending piece of clothing in his hand blankly.

Jave snorted lightly before he clasped his mouth shut with his hand, apparently trying to suppress his laughter seeing Kris’ incredulous reaction. “Sorry, Kris. The other aprons are unavailable due to Dellons’ prank yesterday. They are all still in laundry.” He patted one of Kris shoulders in sympathy.

_Dellons._ Hearing his name made Kris’ left eye twitch in annoyance. Why wasn’t he surprised that the guy was an ass even in this world? Kris took a deep breath and counted to ten to calm his temper. He had to. He couldn’t just curse the bastard out loud in front of Jave. It wouldn’t be like this world Kris. Kris in this world was quieter and more reserved, _maybe_.

“I’d rather cook without this.” Kris huffed and folded the apron before giving it back to Jave. Then he started walking to the kitchen slash dining room to do just that.

Kris… cooking? He had never cooked in his entire life before. But apparently, he could in this world. He had to rely on his body memory for this (and everything else). If he blew up breakfast, he could always blame it on the lack of sleep due to finishing his home work the night before.

“Your jumper will get dirty,” Jave followed him after he rested the apron on his arm.

“I’ll just change clothes if that happens,” Kris responded and Jave paused slightly, which earned him Kris’ attention. “What?” He raised one of his eyebrows.

“No… well, I’m just glad,” Jave said, scratching his cheek as he resumed his walk.

Kris frowned slightly, rather confused. “Of?”

“You were usually curter and snappish after all-nighter. I’m just glad that your mood is alright this time.” Jave grinned and Kris hid a bullet of sweat threatening to drop from his temple.

_Shoot. I am a snappish person in this world?_ —Kris couldn’t believe it. Was this world Kris actually ruder than he was? No way, Kris tried to off his best friend once (even if it was because of Dellons’ manipulation, but still), there was no way this Kris was ruder than him.

“You’d be surprised how bad my mood _yesterday_ ,” Kris grunted, trying to act more curtly, but Jave just grinned more widely.

“Yeah, Dellons is an ass.”

Kris didn’t really remember what this world Dellons did yesterday, but it couldn’t be good. He just went along to play his character. He would know eventually.

When Kris entered the kitchen, he got a flash of an image where he and the other occupants of the _house_ were sitting and eating together in the dining room. He was surprised that he lived together with the other Seven Knights. They were really like a family even here, more than they were in the original world.

“Where are the others?” Kris couldn’t help asking, curiosity getting the better of him as he continued to walk to the stove after dropping his bag on the chair next to the table. He would make something simple. Toasts and eggs were common breakfast menu. Maybe some salads too, to balance their diet…

…

…

_Wait, was I thinking about our diet in this world?_ —Kris almost dropped the pan he just fetched from the cooking rack, shocked that his mind just ran off without his consciousness.

Kris was a noble. Why would he think about other people’s diet? This was confusing and undignified. This world Kris’ mind would ruin his own in the long run.

Kris sighed again and put the frying pan on top of the stove before he turned to grab a bottle of cooking oil bellow the counter and some ingredients from the fridge, trying to mask his mortification by doing what his body told him to do.  

“Well, that’s new. You’re actually interested in what _other people_ are up to,” Jave sat on one of the chairs at the dining table, resting his chin on his hand on top of the table.

Kris cringed inwardly. Was this world Kris really that unsociable?

Kris shrugged to pretend that he wasn’t that interested. “You guys aren’t exactly other people. I live with you. Once in awhile I have a moment of curiosity too,” he reasoned, anything that vaguely reasonable for his uncharacteristic behavior. “Human is curious creature, no?”

Kris didn’t face Jave as he spoke, so he didn’t see what kind of expression Jave made when he replied “Well, you’re not wrong,” but there was something softer in his tone, so Jave might have smiled.

Kris’ mouth curved up slightly as he broke the eggshells and started his cooking. He wasn’t thinking as he did all of them and by the time he realized, the omelets were ready to simmer and the nicely baked toasts were already on the plates. He even already finished dressing the salads. “Can you set the table, Jave?” he asked then, probably nonconforming again, but if it was, Jave ignored that as he stood to help him.

…

“By the way, to answer your earlier question,” Jave started when he was back at the table, Kris sitting beside him ready to eat his breakfast as well, “Eileen and Rachel are sleeping in since their classes won’t start before noon. Dellons hasn’t come back since last night, probably still lazing around in his girlfriends’ apartment. Spike will come up soon; he was in the bathroom when I looked for him earlier before I tried to knock on your door, and Rudy hasn’t been back from his ritual morning jog.”

Hearing Rudy’s name made Kris’ heart jump a little. He almost dropped his spoon, part in surprise of his heart reaction to Rudy’s name, part in embarrassment because _sheesh…_ only hearing Rudy’s name could affect him to that extent, seriously. He needed to get a grip of himself.

However then, Kris paused as he discerned a few sentences back. “Girlfriends?” Did he hear the multiple part right? Dellons? With more than one lover?

“Yeah. Dellons is an ass, but women dig in his bad-boy look, lucky bastard.” Jave grumbled, sounding envious and peeved, but there was something fond in his tone as well. 

So Dellons wasn’t a complete villain in this world. Jave called him an ass and a bastard, but he didn’t hate Dellons. Actually, Kris doubted that anyone in this house hated Dellons. Even before, in their original world, nobody actually hated Dellons. He went crazy, yes, causing death, mayhem, war and destruction, but the other Seven Knights were mostly just confused of his motive.

Well, _Kris_ hated him though. He would kill Dellons someday for killing his men, for using and manipulating him to fight against Rudy, for tearing apart their world. However, whenever Kris remembered his time when he was still in hiding, when there was only Dellons to talk to, to connect to other human being, when Kris saw the Reaper’s soft side as Dellons told him story of his beloved, he felt almost…

Kris put down his spoon and shook his head to get rid of the _sympathy_ which he felt toward his enemy. Dellons was the cause of all the sufferings in their world. Kris absolutely couldn’t allow his mind to be swayed _again_ by Dellons’ influence. For all he knew, Dellons could be lying when he told Kris about Claudia, his late _wife_. No one actually knew Dellons’ past. He was the oldest Seven Knights. Rumors about him as he had been still a famed Black Knight were already milling around when Kris was still teenager, no older than fourteen. Dellons were already there when the other knights came around. No body knew where he came from. He was just… _there_ , at the Dark Grave as its guardian. Dellons was always mysterious. Not a single soul actually knew anything important about him, not even his exact age. He looked like twenty something, but the depth of his eyes and the vast view of his life spoke _too old_ compared to his appearance.

“What’s wrong?” Jave looked at him with a curious, or more like… concerned look, startling Kris back from his wandering thought.

“Nothing, just a little headache,” Kris didn’t exactly lie since he did feel that headache. _Dellons induced headache, that is._

“That’s probably because of those all-nighters you pulled whenever the deadlines of your homework came around,” Jave shook his head while sighing. “Do you need some aspirin?”

_Aspirin?_ —Kris’ mind questioned, looking for some stored information about this ‘aspirin’ when someone entered the kitchen, immediately distracting Jave’s attention from him.

“Oh, hey Spike. Morning!” Jave’s expression brightened considerably as he looked upward to the very tall— _he’s 195 cm in height after all—_ , dark-brown haired man that had just entered the premise and now was strolling to one of the chairs at the table. The scar on his left cheek right bellow his eye was visible as he brushed his side bang behind his left ear and nodded to Jave in acknowledgement.

Kris turned aside slightly to greet him as well. “Good morning, Spike.”

Spike paused in pulling the chair to look at him, his expression taciturn like usual, but there was an inquisitive glint in his clear olive-green eyes. “How rare, you actually greet me first,” he said slowly before sitting down. “What’s the occasion?” He asked, toneless and expressionless, but Kris could detect the suspicion from his atmosphere.

How weird was that? Seriously, how much of antisocial bastard this world Kris was? Even though Kris and the original Spike were awkward when they interacted with each other, they always made effort to talk whenever they had opportunity. This world Kris and Spike lived under the same roof for heaven sake. Did he imply that Kris never even tried to _initiate_ conversation with him?

“That’s it. I’m turning a new leave,” Kris vowed resolutely. Both Jave and Spike blinked at his sudden mutter. He didn’t mean to say that out loud actually, but he just couldn’t help it. This Kris apparently needed intervention in interpersonal relationship.

“Kris?” Jave stared at him, looking mystified.

Kris sighed again, looking down at his plate. “I can’t live this reserved antisocial persona anymore if I want to succeed in life generally. I have to be able to interact with people normally. I need to be able to say what I want to say and communicate better,” he groused seriously at them.

Jave just gaped with wide eyes and Spike turned his face aside slightly, the corners of his mouth twitching.

“What?” Kris narrowed his eyes at Spike especially, since he looked like he was about to laugh, but he couldn’t ignored Jave’s flabbergasted expression as well.

“Kris, are you sure you’re okay?” Jave looked mighty concerned now, raising his hand to put his palm on Kris’ forehead, probably to check on Kris’ temperature, and Spike’s shoulders started to shake, apparently unable to hold his amusement entirely.

“I’m not sick, damn it!” Now Kris’ temper got the better of him as he warded Jave’s hand away lightly.

“But you’re acting weird!” Jave reasoned. “You never have difficulties in uttering your mind to other people, Kris, just… not that often. You only speak when it’s necessary for you to speak… Making small talk and minding other people’s activities were never your concern before,” he huffed then, still sounding worried whether Kris finally lost it.

“Well, you guys are my friends, right? Greeting each other is the basic of communication. You guys are important enough for me to stay in contact. Of course I want to know more about you,” Kris argued.

Actually it was out of character even for him to argue. Remember how good Kris was at ignoring things? Petty argument was one in the long list of his to be ignored. However, this time he needed to deliver message clearly to his friends: the Seven Knights was _not_ in that list. They were imperative for him especially after everything that happened between them back then in his original world. They were more his family than his noble, biological ones. This Kris must have thought the same thing here, because he _lived_ with them. Kris knew himself, alternate universe or not. He wouldn’t want to live together with people that he didn’t consider necessary for him.

“Kris…” Jave looked astounded even more and now Spike couldn’t hold down his laughter anymore and finally snickered.

“Spike! I’m serious!” Kris raised his voice, annoyed that he was laughed at. But there was a tiny relieved feeling too, because Spike was laughing. The original Spike never laughed like that. He was always serious and icy, almost bordering into unfeeling. This Spike was better at showing his emotion.

“No, my bad,” Spike coughed, trying to hide his snicker again. “Sorry for my insensitive comment before, Kris. I didn’t realize that you were bothered by it. I’m glad that you finally open up to us too,” he continued, a small smile featuring his face.

Now it was Kris’ turn to blink once, rather amazed seeing Spike smile, and his cheeks heated slightly. Somehow, he felt embarrassed now that he made a big deal about it. He just… he didn’t want anymore misunderstanding. He didn’t want a repeat of the mistake he had done in the past.

At that time, if only Kris could communicate better… if only he had decided to speak to Rudy first regarding his suspicion before believing Dellons’ lies… he could have spared himself and Rudy the heartache. He had betrayed Rudy thinking that Rudy had betrayed him first by killing his men. He had been an idiot through and through.

“No, I apologize as well… for rising my voice,” Now Kris felt awkward.

“You know, it’s not exactly a bad thing to speak only when you have to,” Spike started again as he began to eat his share of breakfast. “You always communicate important things to us, Kris. That’s more than enough for us.”

Kris looked upward at Spike again, a little bit surprised. But seeing his calm expression as he was eating, Kris couldn’t help smiling marginally. “Thank you, Spike.”

“I still think it’s weird that you suddenly want to be friendly without any prompting,” Jave huffed and Kris sent him a withering glare.

“How is Red?” Kris asked then, to make a point that he really wanted to know them better and changed the subject.

At the mention of Red, Jave’s dragon (also his adoptive brother in their original world), Jave’s eyes sparkled. “Oh, he was absolutely the _best_!”

_Aaand, here he goes._ When Jave started to talk about Red, nobody could stop him. Kris listened to Jave nonchalantly as the purple haired man was rambling excitedly about Red while Kris resumed his eating. Spike rolled his eyes slightly at the way Jave enthusiastically and childishly explained this and that about what Red was doing the other day before he shook his head in fond exasperation and continued his breakfast as well.

Apparently, Red in this universe was a lizard, albeit a rare one. A flying dragon lizard. It was 35 cm in length and 1.6 kg in weight, brightly colored in yellow and blue on its wing-like parts and mostly dark green in the middle. It really could fly and Jave loved his pet/buddy very much. Kris kind of wanted to ask why it was named Red despite nothing red could be spotted in its body, unlike the reddish-white dragon in their original world, but he thought the better of it and left it alone, or Jave would try to explain more which probably would take even longer time than his usual ramble about Red.

Kris looked at the clock on the wall and noticed the time. It was 9.15. He only had 15 minutes more to chit-chat with his friends before he had to go to class. He walked to his campus and it need at least 20 minutes to get there. Then he needed another 5 to submit his home work and 5 more to settle himself in class.

“Isn’t Rudy running late? It’s almost time to go to class,” Kris asked then because Rudy hadn’t come home yet from his jogging.

“Ah, Rudy’s class started at 12.00 today. His morning class got cancelled since his Professor forgot to assign his replacement when he went out of town. Rudy is probably running the long route today,” Jave informed.

“Oh,” Kris looked down. Well, that was a bit disappointing. He wanted to walk together with Rudy to campus.

“You want to walk with us, Kris?” Spike, seeming to notice his slight discontent, offered.

“Is that okay? You two have morning class as well?” Kris felt much consoled as both Jave and Spiked nodded. They had class at 10 o’clock, separately of course since they were majoring in different fields of study. Jave majored in agriculture and nature protection, Spike majored in industrial engineering, and Kris, theoretical Physics. Both Dellons and Rudy apparently majored in International Relation together, Eileen was in Law and Criminal Justice while Rachel was in Practical science. Everyone had their own interest, but they stayed together anyway.

“Well, we’re done eating. Whose duty today to do dishes?” Spike stood as he walked to the whiteboard on the wall near the fridge.

“Dellons and Rudy, laundry goes to Rachel and grocery goes to Eileen,” Jave quipped as he collected the dishes and delivered them to the sink.

“That means you and I tackle the house cleaning duty,” Spike took the marker and wrote it down on the board.

“And Kris in on dinner if we decide to stay in today,” Jave nodded, seemingly satisfied with divided chores while Kris put the remaining of their breakfast in one plate (the omelets and the toasts) and wrapped it with plastic to preserve them and delivered the salads to the fridge.

“You actually memories the schedule, huh? I wonder why we need the board at all,” Kris blinked once, shaking his head slightly while a bead of sweat rolled down his cheek.

“The board is for you guys who honest to god can never remember such _trivial_ matters,” Jave yawned in bored lofty tone.

“Is that sarcasm?” More sweats dropped from Kris’ head.

“Nope. That’s just how Jave is,” Spike rolled his eyes at Jave again after he was done writing. “Let me grab my bag and then we’re good to go.”

“Alright,” Kris nodded and grabbed his backpack before he proceeded to wait for Spike and Jave in the living room. He checked the drawer of the dresser beside the sofa for the spare keys of the house and noticed they were only five. Rudy and Dellons brought theirs respectively. Kris took three, keeping one for himself and the other two would be given to Spike and Jave.

A few minutes later, Jave and Spike appeared in the living room and after Kris handed them their spare keys and locked the front door, they departed.

* * *

  **~A Seven Knights Fan Fiction~**

* * *

Kris dreaded his morning class for awhile as he settled himself on the back row of the lecture hall. He didn’t know anyone in his own class. Wait… no, that wasn’t exactly right. He knew some of them, faces and names wise, but _not personally_. It was there in the memory of this world Kris, but even this world Kris didn’t seem to deem them important enough to take a note of.

People greeted him in respect for some reason and Kris just nodded at them back, at least acknowledging their presence, but generally they left him alone after that. Some girls whispered his name excitedly in groups and looked at him from afar with blushing faces, but Kris resolutely ignored them. He knew what groupies looked like after all. There were some in his original as well. Back in Revengers Hell, there was a succubus named Sarah that proclaimed herself as Kris’ Girl for God’s sake, even though Kris barely gave her any thought or attention for that matter. He wondered if there was ‘Sarah’ in this universe as well…

Kris’ body shuddered lightly, an unpleasant chill assaulting his spine at the thought. He just hoped that he didn’t have to deal with her too often if there was.

A few minutes into his pointless musing, the professor came into the hall and started the class. Kris found himself able to focus on the lecture and learned that he already knew the lesson. He even recalled the experience of reading the topic in one of those thick Physic textbooks in his room and was able to copy the formula which was taught in front of the class into his notebook without reading the whiteboard. He already mastered this topic. This world Kris did his study in advance after all.

After the lecture was done, the professor called for him.

“Ah, Mr. Tenebra.”

Kris forgot his last name and reacted a bit too late to the call before leaving the class.

“Please wait, Mr. Tenebra.”

At the second call did he stop, and turned to him, “Yes, sir?” pretending he just heard him.

“About the independent experiment that I asked for you to do in your free time before…”

_Independent experiment?_ —Kris’ mind immediately zeroed in on the information. He knew it. If this world Kris really fooled around with experiment on space and time continuum, he could really have caused some kind if worm hole to open and accidentally swapped body with Kris.

Kris intended to dig more information about it from the professor, but before he could ask anything, the middle aged man asked him to _stop_ the experiment.

“What?” Kris was stunned.

“That experiment will be legally approved and patented by the sponsor soon and the higher ups already held the meeting to decide some researchers who will participate in the experimentation. I know you’re really interested in participating in it, but the nature and the risk of this experiment is considered too high for an undergrad student. You are a brilliant student, Mr. Tenebra, always working hard and one step ahead of the curriculum that you’re supposed to master. I personally feel disappointed that you can’t participate in it. I’ll try to appeal that you can be included. But, my hands are tied. The sponsor and the university decide the final say…”

Kris felt like hitting something as he heard the professor made excuse after excuse that he _couldn’t_ do the experiment since he was still too young and stupid. What high risk? Damned those sponsors. They wanted all the credit for themselves huh? Well, since Kris was already _here_ , that meant the independent experiment that this world Kris had been doing was somewhat successful at some point, right? Fine, then. Kris could always review his own note in secret if he couldn’t participate in the legitimate one.

“Understood, Professor.” Kris decided to agree on the surface to appease the Professor and got him off his back. The professor looked relieved at his acceptance.

“Thank you, Mr. Tenebra. It’s really wonderful that you’re such a model student.”

Professor left the class with a pleasant smile on his face while Kris, walking out of class to the cafeteria, tried not to stew in his plan on reviewing all the notes this world Kris had written on the experiment. He wouldn’t report to them that he already got some results. Serve them right.

…

The cafeteria of Kris campus, Terra Demesne, consisted of a group of food stalls, concentrated in one big open hall across the inside park. At lunch time, it was mostly packed with students trying to get some meal and some people used the park as favorite place to sit down and eat their lunch. This world Kris liked to sit down under the tallest acorn tree at the park-side to read a book (novels or textbook, depending on his mood) while snacking on something.

Kris followed his routine. It would be weird if he changed it after all. He had just come back from getting some red-bean filled bun and was about to go to his designated favorite spot when he heard a _lot_ of girls squealing.

“Aww, Look at that! It’s Blackscythe and Lucerna!”

“No way! The greatest duo from International Relation Department?!”

“Eh, where?! Where?!”

Kris got distracted as he looked up and saw the group of girls forming in front of him and blocked his way.

“Kyaa! Dellons! Look this way!”

“Rudy too! I love youuuu!”

Kris stopped dead as he heard the name uttered by those girls.

_Dellons and Rudy?_ —It wasn’t hard for Kris to look through the crowd, since he was taller than those girls.

“Ladies, please. Make a way. We need to eat too, ya know,” Dellons Blackscythe, the tall blue eyed blonde in semi formal clothes, a long sleeved white shirt under a red fest and a pair of black pants, winked at the girls teasingly and they screamed even louder in reaction. “Or what, you want to be my food to satiate my hunger?”

“Kyaaaa! Dellons, eat meeee!” Some fanatic ones shrieked enthusiastically.

“Sheesh… Dellons, stop stirring them up even more,” Rudy Lucerna, same height as the guy walking beside him, the amber eyed brunet in casual light blue shirt under a white-blue jacket and a pair of jeans, reprimanded the blond lightly.

“But they’re cute, Rudy! Those kittens are just too _funny_ to be left alone,” Dellons retorted, giving Rudy a side-glance that looked very sly, but somehow still regal and charismatic.

“Dellons! Seriously!” Rudy shook his head. His tone sounded exasperated, but his eyes were soft and fond, so everyone could see that he cared a lot about the reprimanded one.

“Aaah, Rudy is always as wonderfully nice as usual!”

“And Dellons is so freaking dreamy!”

“Kyaaaaaa!”

Kris couldn’t help staring at the commotion in stunned silence. He knew The Seven Knights were very popular in his original world, especially Rudy since he was the people person and the Light Guardian chosen heir, but Dellons… he couldn’t believe that people… _girls_ actually screamed his name asking for him to marry them or making babies with them. He meant, okay, the original Dellons was extremely handsome, had nice alluring physic and his clear baby blue eyes were dazzling and his voice was melodious, but he was mysterious and creepy most of the time, and his opinion was always at odds with the other Seven Knights, his mind game was horrible and he generally didn’t have a good personality despite possessing diplomatic skill and intelligence that could turn every ambassador’s brain into mush whenever he was done with them.

Alright, so Dellons’ tremendously attractive physical aspect was absolutely formidable to entice every girl in the country, but his personality sucked big time!

Kris tried to push aside those fine, _fine_ physical aspects of Dellons and started to analyze what was wrong with this Dellons. They couldn’t be that much different. Jave called him an ass enough time to prove that this Dellons wasn’t exactly a good person either. So why did everyone seem to be obsessed with him?

As Kris was musing about it, he didn’t realize that both Dellons and Rudy already spotted him behind the crowd. He was also too late to notice as-

“Ah, excuse me, ladies, I have a princess to greet.” Dellons gave his fans a flying kiss as they screamed some more before he ran toward Kris and then-

“Kris!” Dellons called his name and actually reached both of his hands and arms to tackle Kris in a big hug.

Kris’ preservation instinct and self defense mechanism immediately roared its ugly head in reaction to his instant panic that his enemy just bodily _attacked_ him, and before Dellons could solidify the _hug_ , Kris’s fist was up and on its way to deliver a punch to Dellons stomach.

Dellons reflect was incredible though, as if he already saw it coming, since he suddenly stopped a few inches before they collided and slid aside to dodge the punch while catching Kris’ fist on his palm, nullifying most of the punch power in the process.

Dellons smirked and Kris cursed when Dellons hand moved to his wrist in a split second and pulled his hand up while Dellons other hand wormed its sneaky way into Kris’ waist in a loose embrace.

“Well, well, as feisty as always. Are you trying to turn me on?” Dellons’ smirk surprisingly softened into a gentle smile and Kris couldn’t help widening his eyes in extreme shock as Dellons pulled Kris wrist down and then put his knuckles on his lips in a light kiss.

“Good morning, Princess,” he greeted, even though it was already noon and that freaking gentle smile was still on his face and Kris couldn’t help feeling that his inner world was turned upside down because his greatest enemy (in his original world) had just called him a woman, greeted him with a gentleman smile, kissed the back of his hand teasingly and held his waist in such intimate way, like he was about to dance Waltz with him instead of bodily drag him.

_Holly—Wait! Calm down! Calm down Kris! He’s NOT that Dellons! He’s a Dellons from this universe! Not a villain, NOT an ENEMY! Just an acquaintance!—_ Kris inner monologue and argument didn’t help ceasing the goosebumps blooming on his entire body, though. All his tense muscles and frenzied neurons in his body screamed for Kris to punch the guy in the face for touching him alone after all.

Dellons seemed to mistake Kris’ silence as a green light for him to tease him further because he continued. “My, you are as coolly beautiful as always. It makes me want to mess you up so bad, kitten.” Dellons gentlemen look promptly turned into leering and a vein of irritation instantly popped up on Kris’ head.

“I see that you are a crazy bastard in here too.” Kris’ deadpanned before he purposely stepped on Dellons toe. _Hard_.

Dellons winced slightly at that, but didn’t yelp or anything. His leering smile turned into a challenged smirk then. “And you’re as violent as always,” he moved his own foot away from Kris’, but didn’t let go of his hand and waist. “But fear not, my dear. You’re always be my favorite even though you treat me cruel.” Dellons apparently didn’t intent to give up his attempt at absurd flirting as he tightened his hold on Kris’ lower back.

More veins popped up on Kris’ face. “Let go,” Kris hissed, attempting another attack by kicking Dellons shin this time, but the blond was ready and moved his leg away from Kris’ in time to dodge the blow.

Dellons smirked turned nastier. “Make me,” he said while leaning closely into Kris’ face and Kris was about knee the guy on his royal jewel when the body that was caging him was suddenly yanked out of his attack-range.

“Alright, that’s enough,” Rudy’s commanding baritone voice was heard so suddenly, his grasp was on Dellons’ back collar vest as he held the guy back, away from Kris. “Tone it down, Dellons. You make Kris uncomfortable,” he reprimanded his friend again, frowning disapprovingly now.

“Tsk, spoilsport as always, Rudy,” Dellons clicked his tongue at the brunet in annoyance, but then he chuckled in glee. “Oh well, I did get to hold the princess for awhile. It’s a win for me.”

Kris wanted to shock the guy in the face and wiped away that annoying smug expression for calling him a woman _twice_ , the bastard! But Rudy got him first by chopping the blond’s head with the side of his palm. “Stop calling Kris like that. He doesn’t like it,” he huffed.

“Ow! Rudy, mind your strength, damn it! You brute!” Dellons kicked Rudy’s shin with the sole of his shoes. Rudy seemed surprised at the sudden retaliation that he let go of Dellons’ collar. Dellons immediately stepped away from Rudy as he nursed his head. “And you’re being such an annoying mother hen again. Quit smothering Kris with your misplaced affection.” Dellons harrumphed before he turned away and left, but not before he turned to Kris once more and smirked again cunningly while saying, “See you at home, _honey_.” Then he laughed slightly as he was back with flirting with his fan girls.

“Asshole,” Kris countered in a curse, loudly this time, and wanted to give the blond a finger but he was too dignified to do such crude gesture, so he turned his glare to Rudy and scowled at him instead. “And you, stop fighting _my_ fight. I’m not a weak girl that needs your constant protection.”

Alright, Kris was mostly angry with Dellons, but Rudy was there and easy to vent to and no matter how much Kris liked him, Rudy could be too overbearing sometimes.

“Ah, you’re right. I’m sorry, Kris.” Rudy looked sheepish as he scratched the back of his neck. He was smiling softly though, and Kris could never stay mad at him long enough just because he was being saved too many times from Dellons’ typical day-to-day harassment.

“Thank you though,” Kris mumbled, turning away to resume his walk to his intended destination and not at all to hide the light flush that had raised on his cheeks at seeing Rudy’s gentle expression.

_Ugh_. Kris’ heart once again picked up pace at the thought of Rudy and the way Rudy’s face lit up as he realized that he was forgiven.

“Can I join you for lunch?” Rudy followed him and fell into step beside him.

“Do what you want. It’s not like I can stop you,” Kris resolutely didn’t look at the brunet’s face as Rudy beamed at him happily.

…

“It’s such a nice weather out here. It’s a waste not to eat outside,” Rudy spoke after they settled down on Kris’ favorite spot.

“Hn,” Kris cleared his throat as he set the bun on his lap and then fetched a mystery novel from his bag.

“Oh, you’re into mystery this time?” Rudy showed interest in the book and Kris tensed slightly as Rudy’s body had gotten s _o much_ closer to his, apparently so he could look at the letters on the book better. “What kind of mystery is in this book?” Rudy’s light baritone voice was very nice to hear, especially this close and the warmth that seemed to radiate constantly from his presence made Kris’ heart beat harder and faster. It made him extremely self-conscious, and the way Rudy rested his chin on his right shoulder while nibbling on his own bread was distracting Kris from his reading.

Kris made an effort to stay calm as he gave Rudy his book. “You can read it first if you want,” and he subtly tried to move away from Rudy’s personal space.

“Nah, I don’t have patience to read the entire book,” Rudy declined with a light laugh and touched Kris’ hand so as to make the book stay in Kris’ hold. “I prefer having you tell me the story after you’re done reading,” he smiled playfully at him.

“Tsk. You’re just lazy,” Kris feigned an annoyance to hide how nervous he was at Rudy’s innocent touch. His heart wouldn’t calm down and he was afraid those erratic beats would get too loud, loud enough for Rudy to hear it.

“Haha, you got me,” Rudy chuckled then. His melodious voice tickled Kris' hearing and— _quit beating so fast, you damn heart!_ “Sorry for not eating breakfast together today. You cooked right? I wish I had been home earlier,” the brunet then smiled ruefully at him.

“It-it’s fine as long as you do your own share of chores.” _Oh, my God! Did he stutter?!_ “You did the dishes, right?” Kris asked, still trying to calm down his fitful heart beat even though his indignation at his very _childish-school-girl-like_ inner thought got the flushing heat on his face to subside… a little. Now it was mostly warm, but he still didn’t face Rudy all the way because he didn’t want to risk being found out.

Apparently, this world Kris had an enormous crush on his best friend. Kris had never felt this nervous around Rudy in their original world. His body never reacted this wildly. Kris was trying his hardest to suppress it all, but it was very hard to do so if all his senses were reacting to every little thing Rudy was doing. Rudy’s tender look in his eyes, his soft words, his gentle smile, and even his mere presence made Kris’ body shiver in pleasant way. It was so very distracting!

“Yeah, but Dellons took a long time in the shower purposely to avoid doing his share, _sheesh_ ,” Rudy chuckled, sounding fondly exasperated.

“Oh…” Kris paused, looking at the letters in the book blankly for a moment. “You were with him this morning…” he mumbled quietly then.

“Yep. Met him when he was on his way home and proceeded to get him to jog with me. He needed the exercise anyway,” Rudy didn’t seem to notice that Kris was slightly bothered by that.

In this universe, it was established that Rudy was closer to Dellons. They shared a lot of interests together and even though Dellons was an ass most of the time, Rudy seemed to trust his judgement in most important things. They often paired up in campus projects and events as well because they were in the same department.  They spent a lot of time together, and their mesmerizing looks and brilliant intelligence, also their positions as number 1 and 2 alternatively in their grade, earned them the title of the greatest duo from International Relation Department.

Although Dellons was considered a womanizer, Kris never actually witnessed him making any woman cry. They seemed to forgive him easily when he played with women. Rudy explained once that Dellons never gave hope to them to get a serious relationship with him from the start. He warned them that he didn’t want a serious relationship. He accepted them as his girlfriends, but he didn’t want to tie them down to him or vice versa.

It was a casual relationship. In short, Dellons loved his women, but he wasn’t in love with them and them with him.

As for Rudy… he was single. His mind was too full with campus projects and his friends, his brothers and sisters back at the orphanage and his current adoptive family to think about a significant other, he said. He probably hadn’t been thinking much about romantic love to have a romantic interest, so he could be close to anyone without rising any hope that they were special for Rudy. Plus, Rudy acted like a Dellons’ keeper most of the time when the blond was being an ass so as not to do too extensive damage to his surrounding.

Rudy and Dellons balanced each other in a weird way and the fans (especially the girls) loved them when they were standing next to each other, an eye-candy they said. Kris understood the appeal. Both Rudy and Dellons were very gorgeous and attractive, of course people liked seeing them together.

It didn’t stop Kris from feeling a bit jealous. Not that he would admit that out loud. Rudy was his best friend after all. And Dellons, even though he was an asshole, was also kind of Kris’ family since they lived in the same boarding house.

“Oh, and I can’t wait to have today’ dinner,” Rudy spoke again suddenly, bringing Kris back from his train of thought. “Since you’re cooking. I’ll make sure that everyone is staying in tonight.” He promised and Kris couldn’t help looking at Rudy’s determined face and instantly believing that _that_ would really happen that night.

Kris looked down at his book again to avert his gaze from Rudy’s bright enticing eyes, trying not to blush again, _sheesh…_ and then closed his eyes in a small smile. “Alright.”

This was the regular life of the Seven Knights in this universe. There wasn’t any monster or magic or dragon, but they were dealing with human interpersonal relationships, confusing and awkward feelings, and probably some controversial matters… _later_.

Besides, Kris still had to find that independent experiment note so he could go home to his original world and focus on dealing with the world crisis there instead of concerning himself with his… a – _not crush, nope, not at all—_ on Rudy here.

_Priorities... yes, I need to restructure my priorities first before dealing with them all..._

**End of Round 1**

**Tbc…**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N:** Alright, as always, some con-crit, questions, or whatever your opinion on this round, go fire them at me, guys!
> 
> **Teaser:**
> 
> “So, why were you harassing them again?” Kris tried to understand the motivation of this Dellons to do such things to other people. Maybe he still wanted to find that excuse behind excuse for Dellons’ crazy behavior in his universe, still unable to accept that he betrayed them all without some kind of important reason. _Or_ , Kris was completely biased because this Dellons didn’t seem as villainous as his world Dellons. 
> 
> “Wow, what a shock! Princess is finally having an interest in me!” Dellons looked mockingly ecstatic and Kris decided to kick the guy in the knee, causing him to yelp and crouch down in pain, “And still as violent as ever…” nursing his abused left kneecap.
> 
> “Quit calling me that, you- _jackass_!” Kris scowled. “I don’t even know why I bother. You’re just being an ass like your usual self,” he huffed angrily after that.
> 
> “Man, you and your prissy temper needs rehabilitation…” Dellons stood again, still looking completely regal with his sly smirk, not seeming in pain at all. The bastard.
> 
> “And your annoying mug needs makeover,” Kris retorted in frustration as Dellons blinked once at him before he barked a laugh and started doubling over. _God_ was he laughing like dying hyena. Kris regretted calling him over earlier.


	3. Round 2: Ordinary or Not So Ordinary Problem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dellons is an ass, Rudy has no personal space policy, Jave is a little shit, Spike also has temper, Eileen is bossy, and Rachel is too proper, and Kris has to deal with all of them... in regular daily basis. Problem? Nope. Not at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaand, here’s round 3. Without further ado, please ENJOY the treat, Seven Knights obsessed people!
> 
> **Disclaimer and Warning: _See prologue._**

**A Gift from A Far Away World—a Seven Knights Fan fiction**

© lunaryu

**Round 2: _Ordinary or Not So Ordinary Problem_**

* * *

At the end of the last lecture of the day, Kris was ready to bang his head on the desk surface. He knew that beside theoretical Physics, he had to get credits on Ethical Practice and Law program, but never had he once thought it could be as boringly exhausting as this.

 _True_ , all scientist needed to build some conscience and learn ethic so they wouldn’t disregard human and animal rights in the pursuing of their goals; and  _sure_ , all their intelligence and capability should be used for good reasons and intention. But, you know the saying?  _A path to hell is mostly built on good intention_ —thing?

Everything usually started on good purposes and motives, and yet circumstances and occasions every so often twisted them in so many ways that in the end, it just blew up in abuse and malpractice. All for the sake of changing  _something_  in life, whether it was in medical field or in  _physics law_. The drive of humanity to do more and better (or worse) was just too overwhelming sometimes to be stopped, no matter what the cost was.

So of course, people like Kris Tenebra that always thought with his head  _more_  than with his heart,  _occasionally_  would misbehave, especially when there was something bigger and life-changing in front of him, waiting for him to  _do something_  about it.

 _Or,_  you know, Kris was probably just trying to justify  _his counterpart’s_  doing in messing around with time and space continuum law, that it ended him with current  _situation_. Despite knowing full well that such kind of experiment was unquestionably illegal to do without supervision or  _permission_  from the higher ups,  _or_  without any fail-safe plan as the backup. How could he take responsibility for it if what he had done and happened to him  _happened_  to other people? Kris could be sanctioned because of this. Heck, Kris would have sanctioned  _himself_  if he were one of the higher ups.

Alas, the ‘Ethical Practice and Law’ was still definitely necessary, so no one as smart as Kris Tenebra would try to do something like he did in the first place. Kris needed to do something, seriously. He feared what would happen to the law of the universe if this went on too long. He could be the reason of the world ending here, and he definitely didn’t want any world to end because of him, counterpart or not.

And Kris could absolutely not fail this particular program,  _damn it_! Boringly exhausting wasn’t a good enough excuse.

Successfully depressing himself a bit, Kris collected his textbook and notebook and put them inside his bag. He would just go home and start that dinner. Maybe Eileen had brought the grocery home…

…

Kris blinked when suddenly he was already outside his building, walking on the paved track to the exit of the campus to go home. “I wonder why I mostly didn’t recall leaving the classroom…”

A bead of perspiration prickled out on his cheek. Kris should really stop doing something by instinct. He relied too much on body memory. At this rate he would seriously stop thinking himself as original Kris instead of his counterpart.

“Ah, Kris! Wait!”

Upon hearing that very familiar, enticing baritone voice, Kris stopped. He almost jumped actually, because it was Rudy and he was coming towards him and  _oh man_ , his heart wasn’t prepared and—

 _What in the world, Kris! Stopped behaving like a teenage girl having a crush, damn it!_ —Kris scolded his  _body_  inwardly for being so over-dramatically responsive to Rudy’s presence again. Though, of course Kris couldn’t help it. His body was  _young_  and his counterpart had such  _feeling_ for his best friend. It affected Kris as well personally, because liking it or not, Kris himself had that – _not crush—_ complicated feeling towards his Rudy.

“H-hey,” Kris greeted back quietly, deciding to just go along, and tried his hardest to hide the shiver his body produced when Rudy’s palm touched his left shoulder.

“Thank god, I could catch you before you left. Let’s walk together,” Rudy smiled and moved his hand to pat Kris’ back in friendly gesture.

“Oh, sure,” Kris couldn’t help the surge of warmth and happiness filling his heart at Rudy’s consideration, and was a bit mortified after that because Rudy’s expression turned amazed for a moment as he stared at Kris’ face, which informed Kris enough that he had  _smiled_ , probably stupidly, in front of Rudy.

“W-what?” Kris once again guarded his expression in his hasty retreat to hide his feelings.  _Ugh_ , it was arduous.

“No, well… it always surprises me every time it happens,” Rudy turned aside slightly, “Your smile,” he continued with a shy look after seeming to realize that he was staring at Kris. “You have such a nice smile, Kris. I feel so… how do you say it,  _grateful_ , maybe? Whenever you show that smile to me.” Rudy now looked down, scratching his left cheek slowly, looking somewhat nervous.

Kris wondered then.  _Grateful?_

Rudy seemed to notice that Kris was questioning what he meant with his words as he kept silent, so Rudy turned to look at Kris’ eyes and softened his expression. “You rarely do it. Smiling…” But then he turned a bit hesitant, like about to say something more, but unsure if it would be accepted with open arms.

Kris was rueful then. “Usually people would add, ‘you should smile more often’ there.” Kris perfectly understood. Smile was an expression that could always put people’s feeling at ease. It wasn’t like it was actually difficult for Kris to smile, it was just… for Kris, smiling was…

“No, that’s not what I want to say,” Rudy seemed to have made up his mind as he spoke again. “You smile rarely, so it feels much more precious when you actually do. It shows me that your smile is reserved for people that really matter to you, and I… I feel so lucky that I’m one of those people.” His cheeks actually flushed faintly as he said it and Kris couldn’t help widening his eyes a bit seeing that because… because Rudy seemed to be more affectionate than usual and there was it.  _The urge._ The urge came out so suddenly, so overwhelmingly, for Kris to say something that this world Kris was probably dying to say.

Kris wanted to say it. That Rudy was  _special_  to him.

He could say it. He  _could._ It was at the tip of his tongue. If Kris said it now, then maybe…  _Maybe…_

“Yo, lovebirds!”   

 _Talk about bad timing!_ —Kris almost bit his tongue in surprise at the sudden voice coming from behind Rudy and the brunet actually jumped a little in reaction, probably very startled as well. He immediately turned around and greeted the upcoming group of people.

“H-hey, Jave! Spike!” Rudy sounded slightly breathless as if he had been holding his breath just before speaking, and his ears that Kris could see from behind, were pinker than usual.

Kris was about to blush himself seeing all that, but he refrained. God, he was holding it down for dear life.  _Stupid Jave and Spike, and their utter stupid timing!_

“Tsk. Who are you calling lovebirds, you-imbecile.” Kris grumbled, feigning irritation by clicking his tongue, as he deadpanned at Jave and nodded at Spike in acknowledgement of their presences.

Jave chuckled at his complaint. “Well, you two look chummier together than usual, so… It’s kind of a reflex,” he grinned slyly and somehow meaningfully as he looked at Kris and then at Rudy, consecutively.

“J-Jave!” Rudy, seemingly alarmed about something, grabbed his friend’s neck as a mean to stop him for speaking further, and then gave him a  _noogie_  playfully while Jave was laughing at his discomfort cheerily.

“Sorry, Jave’s just being mischievous like a  _child_  he is,” Spike huffed, sounding slightly sarcastic, and shook his head. “We’re off to home too. Let’s walk together?” He turned his olive colored eyes at Kris, as if surreptitiously asking whether they had interrupted something with his questioning gaze.

“Sure,” Kris immediately agreed. He didn’t want Spike and Jave to snoop around further in Kris’ private matter, especially if they already suspected what was going on between Kris and Rudy. But, judging from Jave’s teasing and how Spike behaved, they probably  _did_  know about  _it_. His counterpart didn’t have Kris’ skill to hide his feeling well, apparently, if even the most naive Jave noticed.

No, wait. In retrospect, Kris had to thank them instead. He had been just rescued from a major blunder.  _That private matter_  shouldn’t have happened in the first place after all. Kris’ guard was slightly down and he almost blew everything up. Rudy was just being the usual Rudy. Friendly, overly caring, Rudy. He wasn’t exactly interested in Kris romantically because Rudy  _did_  this to everyone. He had too big of a heart that could give everyone special attention whenever they needed him to.

Kris couldn’t just confess his counterpart’s feeling to his crush like that. It would jeopardize their friendship.

_Yes… don’t do anything stupid even though this isn’t your original world, Kris…_

…

“So, Kris, what are you going to make for dinner tonight?” Jave walked beside Kris, while Rudy and Spike walked behind them slightly as they were on the side of the main road in town.

“I wonder,” Kris hadn’t really thought of the menu, but… Rudy was looking forward to it, so maybe… Rudy’s favorite—

 _Oi! Stop thinking about Rudy all the time!_ —Kris felt utter embarrassment for his thought, really.

“I’d like to eat some croquettes, if it’s alright,” Rudy piped up from behind suddenly.

“Ah, Rudy, that’s unfair! I want my favorite for dinner as well!” Jave protested immediately.

“But Eileen is the one that does grocery shopping, so it’s mostly up to her what we’re going to eat tonight.” Spike easily diffused the argument because it was true. They, including including the cook himself, couldn’t have known what Kris was going to make without knowing what kind of supplies Eileen bought.

“I hope she brings back some of my favorites…!” Jave sighed dreamily.

“Next time we’ll put a list of requests to the grocery shopper, so we can expect what kind of dinner we’ll get,” Rudy smiled in amusement and rustled Jave’s hair affectionately.

The walk home was mostly filled with idle chatter from Jave afterwards, once again bestowing them the tale of ‘what Red was doing the other day’ and occasional snickers and dry comments from Rudy and Spike. Kris was quietly content in listening to them talking, but then something caught his eyes when they walked past an alley between two tall apartment buildings.

A group of people, surrounding a lone blond. Some of the guys raising their voices and the sardonic chuckle from the encircled blond immediately informed Kris that he had found their troublesome friend. Kris let out a deep sigh as the mob’s voices got louder by the second.

“What’s wrong Kris?” Rudy seemed to notice his discomfort first before detecting the crowd in the alley as well. “Huh… is that…?” He widened his eyes slightly as the realization dawned.

“Uwaaah, Dellons is about to get pummeled,” Jave winced as he saw them as well.

Spike grunted, “Always making trouble whenever he goes.” He looked more annoyed than worried, though.

“We should let him get beaten up once in a while. It will teach him a lesson not to be an ass all the time,” Jave huffed, but his expression looked guilty after that, and he seemed worried as he kept his eyes at the crowd in the alley.

“No… I’m more worried about those guys, though,” Rudy sighed as well, massaging his temples with his thumb and index finger as if he had a headache. “Dellons is exceptional in martial arts. He  _will_  kick the shit out of them if they attack first.” He probably had one, just like Kris.  _Dellons induced headache_.

Now, one of the guys had their hands fist on Dellons’ collar, yanking him forward rather roughly and Dellons’ smirk amplified evilly, his cunning playful baby blue eyes glinted more sharply and dangerously. Dellons was probably getting ready for the offensive when Rudy slashed the tense atmosphere with his booming voice.

“Hey, Dellons! Man, what are you doing there?!”

Dellons blinked once, so did his not so friendly friends that were crowding him. Dellons were taller than most of them, so he could easily looked back at Rudy. “Oh,” the evil smile he gave his admirer turned downward slightly as he spotted Rudy, Kris, Jave and Spike at the entrance of the alley. “Aww, man,” he groaned, looking kind of thwarted for some reason.

“Gentlemen,” Rudy smiled at the mob. “Whatever Dellons did to offend you, we’re sorry,” ( _“Hey now! Why are you assuming it’s my fault?!”_   Dellons protested in the background, while Rudy was steadfastly ignoring him), “He didn’t do it on purpose. Please forgive him,” his voice sounded placating and apologetic, and the mob looked restlessly at him for a moment before one of them walked towards Rudy to  _whine_  about what an ass Dellons was to them, Kris couldn’t clearly hear what those guys were spouting.

Anyway, there were jeers and sneers as well in it and Rudy’s mollifying and nice gesture was gradually turning colder by the seconds and at the end, he slipped his hand on his pants pocket to retrieve his cell phone. “Which do you want me to call?” He asked, stony and angry enough to alarm even Spike. “A police car or an ambulance?”

…

“You guys are ruining my fun!” Dellons complained loudly as they walked out of the alley, leaving behind some terrified, traumatized guys while the others were groaning on the ground with various states of injuries.

“Serve you right,” Jave snorted derisively at the blond.

“You probably would leave them all  _half-dead_  if I let you ride freely on that adrenaline, you—adrenaline junkie,” Rudy huffed, frowning at Dellons while observing his gait not so subtly, most likely assessing whether or not his friend was injured anywhere.

“Stop eyeing me like that! I’m fine!” Dellons slapped his palm on Rudy’s eyes to make him stop staring. “Well, weren’t you quite  _My Prince_  in shining armor there, rescuing me like that, even though  _everything_  was under control.” The sarcasm was clear in Dellons’ tone. He crouched slightly to look down at him since Rudy was slightly shorter than him.

Rudy grabbed on Dellons’ wrist to move his palm away from his face. “You purposely baited them to attack you. What is wrong with you? Why did you do such dangerous thing?” Rudy looked righteously angry now, but the shine in his eyes was that of a worry and Dellons huffed and rolled his eyes at him in clear annoyance at his  _mother-henning_  again.

“Because I could,  _duh_ ,” Dellons responded haughtily and pulled his wrist off of Rudys grasp. “You had to ask that?”

“Dellons! I’m serious! Quit making trouble all the time! If it had turned into a big fight just now, you could get expelled from the uni!” Rudy shouted at him, sounding completely apprehensive while Dellons just continued his walk with an uncaring harrumph.

“Just let him be, Rudy. You know how he is,” Spike spoke tonelessly, probably trying to calm Rudy down, but Dellons seemed to be still in the mood to stir trouble, so he stopped to look back and smirk at Spike.

“Hey,  _Elsa_. Didn’t notice you there,” Dellons’ smirk was super wicked now.

 _Who in the world is Elsa?_ —Kris’ sweat dropped, utterly confused, and he (and probably the others as well) could almost hear an imaginary string of patience just snap inside Spike.

“Bastard!” Spike’s stormy olive-green eyes flashed in fury and promised violence when Jave intervened.

“God, Dellons, you’re such an ass!” Jave threw the blond an empty soda can, the one left from his drink earlier.

Dellons dodged it easily, his wicked grin toning down slightly into mischievous one. “Thank you, lizard boy,” he said mockingly before he faced ahead again and resumed walking.

Rudy gave out an exasperated sigh, Spike groused in visible infuriation, and Jave thrust his tongue out at Dellons in childish indignation after shouting, “It wasn’t a compliment, you asshole! And don’t call me that!” The three seemed to be in mutual feeling about Dellons’ disagreeable attitude, but for some reason, Kris felt that Dellons didn’t exactly refer his thanks to Jave’s slight at him.

…  _Did I read his behavior too much again?_ —Kris couldn’t help thinking that deep down, Dellons was probably relieved that they had stopped him from making scandal. So contradictory… Apparently, the Dellons in this universe was very complex.

 _Maybe the Dellons in my universe also… No. Don’t go there, Kris. Just focus on trying to look a way for going back first_ —Kris decided to put the thought at the back of his head to recall on a later date.  _Food first, think later._

* * *

**~A Seven Knights Fan Fiction~**

* * *

“You guys are so laaaaate!” Eileen, a woman with wavy, shoulder-length strawberry blond hair and violet eyes complained loudly when the guys arrived home. “I was just about to call a pizza parlor if you came in 5 minutes later.” She huffed, lazing around on the sofa in the living room, while Rachel, a woman with neck-length straight blond hair and sapphire colored eyes, was surfing the TV channels from the beanbag seat in front of her. Both were already comfortable in their pajamas.

“Took you guys long enough. Where did you wander off to?” Rachel asked as she glanced at the guys.

“Dellons.” The guys, sans Dellons who didn’t mind them at all and immediately ventured to the bathroom, instantly replied in unison, completed with deep resigned sighs.

“I heard that!” Dellons shouted from inside the restroom in indignation, as both Rachel and Eileen sniggered in understanding.

“Anyway, Kris! Please make something edible fast! I’m starving!” Eileen turned to Kris with whiny voice and expectant gaze.

“That’s so unladylike, Eileen,” Rachel chided, huffing at her.

“I don’t care. My stomach can’t take this hunger anymore. Food, please!” Eileen requested louder.

“Alright, calm down. I’ll make something immediately.” Kris shook his head as he just dropped his bag on the living room and went to the kitchen to start dinner.

Eileen just asked something edible, it didn’t have to be extravagant or good. Kris peered inside the grocery bag that Eileen had brought into and put on the kitchen table. Lots of vegetables were in it. Maybe vegetable soup would be alright. Did she buy any meat? … _there_. Okay, they would have vegetable-meat soup and black pepper stir-fries for dinner tonight. They still had some fruits in the fridge if they wanted some dessert later…

…

Dinner went okay. Well, everyone, even Dellons, said Kris’ cooking was fantastic. Kris himself couldn’t really believe that he was such a decent cook. He meant, original Kris really had never cooked in Asgar. He was a noble. Someone was always there to cook for him, even when he was in hiding. Original Dellons provided him with  _everything_ , from a place to stay, a change of clothes to full course of fulfilling meals. He treated Kris like a honorable guest even though the rumors about Kris going rouge were milling around in Terra Kingdom.

Kris knew now that original Dellons did that because he needed Kris to antagonize Rudy, so Rudy’s attention wouldn’t be on him when Dellons did all the bad things, but… even so, Kris couldn’t exactly disregard the feeling of companionship he felt with Dellons, because at the time, Kris felt truly alone for the first time, with no comrades and with suspicion of betrayal, and Dellons was willing to listen and talk to him, even helping in hiding him and getting him stronger for his revenge… It had felt a lot like a salvation.

At the time, Kris truly believed that Dellons was on his side.

Kris had felt the anguish of losing something very important when Bane tried to kill him and learned that it was per Dellons’ order. That feeling of despair… it was real. What he felt for Dellons at the time was almost the same feeling he had for Rudy before the massacre of his men fiasco.

It had turned into hatred now, though. Well, maybe not as bad as before, but… he would still kill Dellons in the end.

 _Will there be a time when everything is resolved and peace once again blankets our land?_ —Kris absentmindedly thought, even though deep down he knew time wouldn’t turn back to the time before everything went to  _shit_. Even so… even so, Kris just couldn’t abandon his hope. From the bottom of his heart, he always wished that everything could turn back to normal, like the peaceful time before Dellons ruined everything.

“Kris?”

At the call of his name, Kris snapped back from his train of thought. He looked upward and found Rudy’s concerned face in front of him. “Ru—?!” he almost jumped backwards because Rudy’s face was too freaking close! However, Rudy seemed to be prepared for that, so before Kris could make a fool out of himself by falling down from his chair, he already grabbed Kris’ right arm to prevent it.

“Hey, you alright? You spaced out just now,” Rudy used his other hand to check Kris’ temperature on his forehead, and his handsome face was even closer than before.

 _Too close!_ —Kris’ heart almost leaped to his throat. He panicked and instantly closed his eyes, his sweaty hands were instinctively planted on Rudy’s arm and chest, indecisively wanting to push him away or to hold on.

“Jave said you pulled all-niter again last night. You should stop doing your homework that way. It’s not healthy,” Rudy, seemingly satisfied that Kris didn’t have fever, moved his hand from Kris’ forehead to his cheek and then to his neck. His palm was big and warm, and it almost made Kris whimper because his touch felt unbearably good. It took all Kris’ will power to hold down his (body shuddering) reaction and he was probably failing miserably, because his cheeks felt hot, his heart beat too hard and fast, and when he opened his eyes slightly, the image of Rudy’s wide eyes, staring at Kris’ face in full of wonder, greeted him again today.

“T-t-too close!” Now Kris shouted and shoved Rudy away, almost throwing the taller guy down from his seat.

“Whoa!” Rudy exclaimed in surprise and had to release his hands from Kris. Luckily, Spike sat beside him and held the backrest of his chair steadily, so it only rattled slightly.

Kris’ heart was still beating a mile per minute as he held his chest while panting slightly. It was hard to breathe like this.  _Stupid Rudy and his no personal space policy!_

“Wow… Rudy. That was almost like a sexual harassment,” Jave quipped, his cheeks turning slightly pink, probably embarrassed seeing the almost intimate moment.

“Wha—?! You’re wrong!” Now it was Rudy’s face that flushed in embarrassment as he protested. “I was just just worried, because Kris seemed out of it just now! I was checking for his temperature!” he tried to defend himself earnestly.

“Well, your hands are always too quick to touch sometimes, Rudy. Mind other people’s personal space, man,” Eileen giggled, apparently quite entertained by it.

Rudy blushed harder at this remark and Dellons snorted as he walked behind the sitting brunet. “See, what did I say?  _Mother-hen_ ,” and he smirked, poking Rudy’s side teasingly.

“B-but, I didn’t do that on purpose…” Rudy slapped Dellons’ hand away from his side since he was quite ticklish there, smiling sheepishly. “Sorry, Kris, did I surprise you?”

“If even Kris shoved you away, he must have quite troubled by it. You have to fix that bad habit of yours, Rudy,” now it was Rachel who nitpicked.

“Yes, I’ll try,” Rudy sighed, looking rather dejected with cloud of depression hanging above his head after that while Dellons snickered as he put his dishes in the sink.

Kris honestly felt a bit guilty seeing that. He didn’t mean to dishearten Rudy. He didn’t dislike Rudy’s touch. It was actually the opposite. He liked it too much that it was bad for his heart. The problem laid in Kris’ self-consciousness after all. But he didn’t know how to fix this either, so he just sighed and stood up, collected his dishes and then moved them to the sink.

“Ah, Kris?” Rudy also stood up, but Kris’ face still felt hot and he didn’t trust himself not to panic and stutter again if he spoke now, so he was resolute to just ignore Rudy for the time being as he walked out of the kitchen. “Kris!” Rudy called once again, but Kris needed to cool off his head (and his face), so he didn’t acknowledge it.

It seemed that Rudy was about to follow him, but Kris heard Spike’s voice prevent him. “Give him space, Rudy. He’ll come around later.”

“But what if he’s angry…?” Rudy’s anxious voice was still slightly heard as Kris climbed the stairs to the second floor. He needed to go out to the veranda. Seeing the night sky and the stars usually calmed him down.

 _Ah… I ruined the mood at dinner—_ Kris sighed, self-reflecting, as he opened the door to the veranda. The cool wind caressed his still warm skin. It felt nice.  _I need to apologize to Rudy later… I wonder what he’s thinking when he touches me… Probably nothing. It’s never special at all for Rudy. He’s used to doing it all the time after all…_

“Can’t believe that you’re that  _sensitive_ , Princess.”

This time Kris didn’t jump even though it was quite unexpected as he heard Dellons’ voice. He only gave Dellons an annoyed glare since he disturbed his peace as Dellons stepped out to the veranda as well. “What do you want, Dellons?”

“Man, such hostility… you wound me,” Dellons faked his hurt look before he grinned as Kris’ frown deepened. “As I thought, even with such grumpy expression you’re still quite stunning.” Dellons moved nearing Kris before he turned to rest his back on the safety guardrail, his baby blue eyes never straying from Kris even when his left hand fetched a cigarette from his chest pocket and his right one slipped into his pants pocket to retrieve his lighter.

Kris stepped slightly away as Dellons lit his roll-up to avoid the second-hand smoke. He didn’t fancy the cancer stick at all. “That thing is going to kill you,” he commented reproachfully and Dellons chucked slightly seeing his obvious disgust.

“Yeah well… at least not immediately,” Dellons shrugged after he puffed out the smoke away. His posture was visibly relaxed now and he looked like enjoying the cool air as well. Kris kept his distance, but didn’t comment anymore since Dellons didn’t seem about to cause trouble and just wanted to have his smoke in peace. Kris didn’t really mind sharing the space as long as Dellons didn’t do anything weird.

 _Well… he called me Princess again, and that ‘stunning’ compliment just now was weird, but I’ll just ignore that_ —Kris looked upward at the night sky and was greeted with a lot of twinkling stars and the last quarter moon with its pale light. It was quite beautiful actually.

A few minutes of comfortable silence later, Kris grew curious about the event that occurred on their way home earlier.

“So…” Kris drawled, earning him Dellons’ attention. “Why were you harassing them again?” Kris tried to understand the motivation of this Dellons to do such things to other people. Maybe he still wanted to find that excuse behind excuse for Dellons’ crazy behavior in his universe, still unable to accept that he betrayed them all without some kind of important reason.  _Or_  Kris was only biased because this Dellons didn’t seem as villainous as his world Dellons.

“Wow, what a shock! Princess is finally having an interest in me!” Dellons looked mockingly ecstatic and Kris decided to kick the guy on his knee, causing him to yelp and crouch down in pain, “And still as violent as ever…” nursing his abused left kneecap with one hand, while his other one kept holding his ciggy tightly.

“Quit calling me that, you-  _jackass_!” Kris scowled. “I don’t even know why I bother. You’re just being an ass like your usual self,” he huffed angrily after that.

“Man, you and your prissy temper needs rehabilitation…” Dellons stood again, still looking completely regal with his sly smirk, not seeming in pain at all as he drew another smoke.

“And your annoying mug needs makeover,” Kris retorted in frustration as Dellons blinked once at him before he barked a laugh and started doubling over.  _God_  was he laughing like dying hyena. Kris regretted calling him over earlier to start this foolish conversation. It was really stupid of him, seriously.

“Oh, and you need to do something about your obvious infatuation towards Rudy,” Dellons said again suddenly, between his exaggerated laughter and Kris’ left eye twitched as he inwardly bemoaned his decision in sharing space with this indelicate piece of shit.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Kris growled.

“Oho… playing denial are we?” Now, after he was calming his cackling, Dellons’ smirk was extraordinarily annoying and Kris wanted to kick his ass very much.

“Keep your delusion to yourself, you crazy bastard,” Kris turned away from the blond, harrumphing condescendingly.

“The only person who’s blind of your affection to Rudy is Rudy himself,” Dellons continued, not caring that Kris was resolutely snubbing him. “He’s too dense to see romantic feeling whether it’s subtle or thrown in his face. An annoyingly too good person with straight, simple mind and lack of greed.. seems like the dream man, but he’s ignorant to lust and love, stringing hearts left and right, but neither realizing nor acknowledging it. Isn’t he a cruel man?”

Kris bit his lower lip to stop himself for reacting to Dellons provocation. He needed to appear that he wasn’t interested in Rudy romantically. He wouldn’t give Dellons the satisfaction of revealing his feelings for the brunet by defending Rudy.

“That… coming from a womanizer like you is like a pot calling a kettle black,” Kris scoffed, finally unable to keep himself from insulting Dellons instead. He still refused to look at Dellons though, because he knew Dellons were grinning like a Cheshire cat as he spoke.

“Hey, now, I always acknowledge romantic feelings around me, you know? Or else I wouldn’t date those women,” Dellons’ voice turned playful.

“But you’re never serious with them,” Kris retorted coldly.

“True, I told them I wasn’t interested in romantic relationship with them. Isn’t that better than not noticing them at all?” Dellons’ tone sounded proud, but there was something else in his voice. A hint of something… more  _peculiar_.

“Isn’t that just your commitment issue?” Kris griped and Dellons was surprisingly silent after that. Maybe Kris had hit the bull-eye.

“Nah,” Dellons responded a few seconds later. “I just like my freedom better,” he sounded wistful after that. There was a pregnant silence for a minute before—

“But, if it’s with you, Kris… I won’t mind being tied down.”

Kris’s body tensed up as suddenly Dellons’ voice was so much closer to his right ear. Kris tried to move away, but Dellons’ arms enveloped his body from behind, encircling his side, while his broad chest was on Kris’ back, his presence totally enclosing him.

“… Let go,” Kris warned slowly, ready to elbow the guy behind him if he refused.

“Hmm… your body reaction to my ministration is really quite different from it to Rudy,” Dellons laughed slightly. Kris could feel the deep vibration on Dellons chest through his back. “I await the day you’ll react to my presence  _that way_  too, Kris,” he added in amusement before he bit Kris’ earlobe and his free hand and fingers caressed his clothed stomach, and Kris really did launch his elbow attack right after, but Dellons was faster enough to let go and move back, before the upper right quadrant of his own gut received damage from it.

Dellons was still laughing as Kris turned and growled angrily at the blond, while his hand was on his right ear, feeling extra bothered and much more uncomfortable. For a moment there, Kris felt danger to his chastity. Though, apparently Dellons was done with his smoke (and harassment) and put the light out with his thumb and index finger before flinging the filter away, out of the veranda.

“Dellons, you jerk! You could start a fire like that!” Kris shouted, but Dellons just waved at him callously, not stopping his walk at all. “Asshole,” Kris grunted once again, looking at underneath the veranda to make sure that the cigarette butt was really out. It wouldn’t be funny if their house burned down because of it after all.

Kris didn’t really think about what Dellons said when he held him from behind earlier. Thinking about that would only bring unnecessary confusion after all. It was just a joke from Dellons.

_“If it’s with you, Kris…”_

Kris shook his head to shake off Dellons’s voice from his remembrance.  _Yes… it was just a joke. Dellons is a total ass, remember?_ —then he covered his face with one hand, still refusing to acknowledge how much hotter the skin there compared to the rest of his body.

* * *

  **~A Seven Knights Fan Fiction~**

* * *

The next blind morning, before everyone else was up, Kris knocked on Rudy’s room door to apologize. Rudy still looked half asleep when he opened the door and only blinked twice before he let Kris inside his room.

“I’m sorry for shoving you away last night and ruining the mood at dinner,” Kris spoke slowly, a bit tentatively.

“Hey, I’m the one who should apologize,” Rudy smiled contritely as he rested his back against the door. “I invaded your personal space without permission. Of course you’d get angry. I wasn’t thinking at the time because I was concerned whether you were sick or not. I hope you’d forgive me,” he said, reaching his hand above Kris’ head, as if he was about to ruffle Kris’ hair, but then seemed to remember something and change his mind as he pulled back.

Kris blinked at Rudy rather confusedly.

“Sorry, bad habit. I almost touched you without permission again,” Rudy scratched his own left cheek sheepishly instead.

Kris was silent the entire time, looking down at his feet and felt quite saddened that Rudy had to hold himself back when he was dealing with Kris. He didn’t mean to make Rudy self conscious to that extent. Kris thought about this carefully before making a daring decision. He nodded slightly and then reached out his left hand to touch Rudy’s right one that dangled idly at his side.

Rudy looked surprised. “Kris?”

“It… is not like I hate your touch,” Kris spoke lowly, slowly looking up to glance at Rudy’s amber eyes. “If I hated it, I wouldn’t let you touch me at all before,” he continued, squeezing Rudy’s hand slightly, trying to be reassuring and encouraging at the same time.

Rudy was speechless for a moment, alternatively looking at his hand that was still in Kris grasp and at Kris’ face, before a small soft smile bloomed on his own face. “Permission to hug?” he asked, his smile gradually widening as Kris promptly flushed and poked at his stomach with his other hand.

“I-idiot! Don’t just ask about something like that so suddenly!” Kris protested, completely embarrassed, but Rudy didn’t seem to really care as he used his right arm to encircled Kris’ right shoulder and put his right palm on Kris head as he pulled his body so closely to him, until Kris face rested on Rudy’s left shoulder and Rudy turned his left palm up to link his hand and fingers properly with him. “Rudy!” Kris was rather shocked with this turn of event, but he didn’t exactly struggle to free himself as well despite his thunderous heart beating. He didn’t know how to situate his right hand that was trapped between their bodies though, so he decided to just spread his palm up on Rudy’s chest.

Kris could sense the taller tanner man in front of him grinning as Rudy held him tightly, his palm feeling Rudy’s heartbeat, steady and strong. “I’m just really glad, Kris,” Rudy said, his melodious voice was just an inch from his ear, and then Kris also could feel a tiny kiss on his hair. It was really unfair how Rudy could be so calm when he did such awkward thing. Kris was just glad that the others weren’t around to see this too disgustingly sweet display of affection.

After a minute though, Kris’ slightly overwrought body was gradually melting in Rudy’s embrace. He was still somewhat embarrassed, but it couldn’t be helped since he inhaled Rudy’s wonderfully comforting scent and felt his pleasant body warmth seeping through his sweat shirt. It was really nice and Kris felt that he could stay like this forever, like being inside a dream.

“I’m so happy…” Rudy spoke again tenderly, tightening his hold slightly, “Because you’re my precious family and friend.”

Kris bit his lower lip to hold down his flinch at the reminder of reality.  _That’s right. I can’t forget this…_

For Rudy, it wasn’t anything special. He did this to all his friends and family.

…

The hug lasted for five… maybe ten minutes before Kris grew antsy and forcefully pulled back. “Until when are you going to do this?” He looked away, still feeling warm on his cheeks and Rudy’s hands weren’t completely off of his own hand and shoulder.

“Until I’m satisfied,” Rudy grinned again cheekily.

“Don’t be so full of yourself,” Kris chided, a bit annoyed, but didn’t actually make any further move to disentangle himself from Rudy’s hold.

Rudy’s grin turned softer as he gazed at Kris’ face and Kris felt the stare, so he looked back to him. “What?” he asked inquisitively. Rudy didn’t reply immediately, but looking more deeply into Kris’ ruby eyes, making Kris raise one of his eyebrows oddly. “ _What is it?_ ” he repeated his question.

“No, well…” Rudy started, his expression looking a bit self-conscious all of sudden, but neither let go nor strayed his eyes from Kris’. “Kris…” Now he sounded somber and Kris couldn’t help feeling that it was important for him to listen carefully. “I… towards you…”

_Eh?_

However, before Rudy could finalize his words, the sound of repeatedly loud knocking on the door startled both him and Kris that they jumped back, away from each other, followed by—

“Oi, Rudy! Are you up? Come on, man, you said you wanted to jog with me today. You even set my alarm an hour early! If you’re still in dream land right now, I’m gonna kick your ass!” It was Dellons’ voice and he sounded impatient.

Rudy laughed diffidently at that. “Yeah, I’m up Dell! Give me a minute. Going to change my clothes first and I’ll be there!” he responded to the call before he turned back to Kris. “You don’t mind, do you?”

Kris shook his head and turned away in courtesy as Rudy pulled his shirt off while walking to his wardrobe.

“By the way,” Dellons’ voice was heard again. “Do you know where Kris is? I went to his room to catch and stare at his sleeping face, but he wasn’t there.”

A vein popped up on Kris’ head while Rudy choked at that. “W-wait, Dell—!” Rudy apparently tried to stop Dellons from blabbering his  _crime_ , but it was too late as the blond continued.

“Kris’ sleeping face is like an angel. It’s such a shame that he can’t maintain that precious expression while he’s awake,” Dellons sounded contemplative and Kris couldn’t hold his twitching eyebrows and annoyance anymore as he walked to the door and opened it.

“I see… aside being a pervert now I know you’re a  _criminal_  through and through,” Kris hissed menacingly at Dellons’ widened eyes as he caught Kris’ pissed off look behind the door. It lasted only a second before a smirk adorned his face. “I locked my door. You were breaking and entering, you ass!” Kris cracked his knuckles as he was ready to pummel the grinning guy.

“Well, well, look who’s here. Princess, are you having an affair when I’m not looking? That makes me sad,” Dellons set a mocking unhappy look as a distraction of his crime and more veins popped up on Kris’ head at that.

“Who is having an affair, you bastard?!” Kris launched a punch that was expertly dodged by Dellons who sidestepped him and slithered his way into Rudy’s room.

“Rudy, how could you? My best friend and my  _boyfriend_!” Apparently, Dellons wasn’t finished with his theatrical drama queen’s act as he faced the face-palming Rudy.

“Whom are you calling your boyfriend?! Quit joking around, asshole!” Kris shouted more loudly, getting increasingly thwarted and humiliated. It was in front of Rudy for god’s sake!

“Ah, what are you talking about? Of course it’s you, Kris-baby. Didn’t we tie our oath last night?” Now Dellons turned to him and blinked at him in fake innocent gesture. It made Kris want to barf seeing it.

“Why don’t you try to die once?” Kris deadpanned and gave him a finger ( _screw dignity!_ ), and Dellons immediately threw himself at Rudy for some reason.

“That’s cruel! That’s so cruel, Princess! Rudy, my princess is being cruel to me! Console me please!” He feigned crying as he hugged the resigned, tired-looking brunet.

“Alright, alright,” Rudy patted Dellons’ back awkwardly, going along with the travesty while smiling and shaking his head in exasperation. Seeing that only made Kris madder.

_How dare he touch Rudy so familiarly!_

“Dellons!” Kris was about to March there and kicked Dellons away, but Dellons quickly let go off Rudy and hid himself behind the brunet while laughing.

“Now, now, don’t be so mad, Kris-honey. It was just a joke,” Dellons continued cackling while Kris was snarling and Rudy chided the blond that he deserved it since he broke into Kris’ room in the first place. “Nah.  _That_  was the joke. I just knocked on his door, but Kris didn’t respond, so I knew he wasn’t there. Kris is such a light sleeper. There’s no way I could break into his room without waking him up.” Dellons explained further while he rested his chin on Rudy’s right shoulder and both of his hands held onto Rudy’s arms.

Well, that was true. Kris was really a light sleeper. He would notice the slightest noise if it didn’t belong in his room. Still…  _Does Dellons really have to be such a jerk?! He’s still too freaking close to Rudy!_

Kris’ killer glare intensified heatedly on Dellons, and the blond chuckled, seeming to notice the jealousy, as he looked at his own position that was quite friendly with his best friend. “Well, why don’t you join us in our morning jog, Princess?” he offered to Kris with a knowing smirk, but didn’t move away from Rudy’s personal space.

“I told you to stop calling me like that!” Kris retorted angrily. 

“Your disgruntled face is very cute,” Dellons sniggered and Kris seethed at him in total infuriation.

“That’s right, Kris. Why don’t you join us?” Rudy also offered, apparently thinking it was a great idea to diffuse the argument before it turned into a real fight. Well, it was already a one-sided fight in Kris’ perspective, but since it was Rudy who offered this time, Kris thought further about the pro and the contra.

Kris didn’t like the idea of leaving Rudy alone with Dellons. Dellons was a womanizer, yes, but the fact that he flirted with Kris all the time opened the possibility that Dellons swung both ways. He wouldn’t let Dellons lay a finger on Rudy no matter what.

“Fine,” Kris finally agreed, looking the other way. “Just for today…” he flushed slightly because  _damn it_! He was actually jealous of Dellons and Rudy’s closeness! That was too embarrassing!

“Whoa! That’s a  _tsundere’_ s* trait right there! So cute! Princess is so adorable!” Dellons chortled some more and Kris’s face turned even redder.

“Shut up, Dellons!”

“Where on earth did you learn such word…?” Rudy just couldn’t help asking Dellons in bewilderment as the three of them went out of his room to go for that jog.

**End of Round 2**

**Tbc…**

* * *

**Additional Notes:**

**_Tsundere_ :** derived from words _tsun-tsun_ (cold, mean) and _dere-dere_ (caring, loving), a personality that was a mix of both cold and mean (in front of other people or the outside), but totally caring and loving (on the inside)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoa, can’t believe it went this far. I had too much fun making the interaction between the Seven Knights in this round. Man, why did I make Dellons such a jerk? *laughs* Out of all the Seven Knights, I actually like Dellons most, both of his ability and his physical feature. True, Kris is beautiful and Rudy is very handsome, but Dellons has this… aura and sexiness that I can’t resist *still laughing*. Anyway, my babble aside, what do you guys think of this round? I’d like some feedback though… It will make me very happy and more pumpep up to update this story.
> 
> **Teaser:**
> 
>  
> 
> “Hey, Dellons…”
> 
> Dellons turned to face his best friend with a raised eyebrow. “What?” He asked as Rudy looked rather hesitant for some reason. “You know you can always tell me anything, right?” He felt rather weird that Rudy was beings self conscious around him now, since they had been friends since high school.
> 
> “No, well…” Rudy looked the other way for a moment, seeming to contemplative how to say whatever he wanted to say. “It’s-,” he started then, still not looking back at Dellons, “It’s about last night… when you were with Kris on the veranda…”
> 
> Dellons blinked once before he smirked. “What, you were there? _Pervert_ ,” and he decided to tease Rudy, because it was so much fun to mess with his best friend as well.


	4. Round 3: Trouble! Misunderstanding All Around

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Four Lords show up! Dellons is still messing with everyone, but he's actually...? And Rudy gets himself in so much trouble. Also don't forget the misunderstanding! It's all around...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, Seven Knights Mania! Luna's back with a new round for this fan fic! You still with me? Good. Now, go ahead and ENJOY ROUND 3! FIGHT!
> 
> **Disclaimer and Warning: _See Prologue!_**

**A Gift from A Far Away World—a Seven Knights Fan fiction**

© lunaryu

 **Round 3: _Trouble! Misunderstanding All Around_** _**  
** _

* * *

In the afternoon, when it was time for the students of Terra Demesne University to mill around the campus ground, either playing sports or eating lunch, Kris was once again under the biggest oak tree at the inside park. Though, today for some reason neither Dellons nor Rudy were there with him.

 _Well… we have our respective schedules after all. It would be weird if we were together all the time_ —Kris sighed deeply as he bit into his pasta bread, his lunch for the day, at the same time he tried to focus on another mystery novel he had brought from home today to read as a mean of spending his break time. However, while he was at it, he couldn't help recalling what happened this morning…

… After they went home from their morning jog, Kris had retreated to his room to prepare for his lesson. As usual, Dellons was the first one to hog the bathroom and Rudy was in the kitchen to fix them some breakfast since it was his duty today. Kris together with Spike got the dishes chore, so he could take his time preparing. Jave was on grocery shopping, Eileen on laundry, while Rachel and Dellons were in house-cleaning duty.

Kris stayed longer in his room to search for his experiment note while he was waiting for Dellons to finish his morning shower, since Kris also needed to take a soak after running around the town. Actually, he already started looking for his note last night, but he couldn't find it in any of his drawer. It wasn't inside his wardrobe as well. He finally gave up after he yawned for the tenth time since he started his search and went to bed. Now, feeling fully awake and fresh from the morning workout, Kris looked for some secret compartments under his studying desk, under his bed, or in any nook and cranny that he could think of inside his room, but still _nada_.

It was weird. He was Kris Tenebra. Kris knew himself pretty well. He wouldn't keep something important to him too far away from his body. The place would be secretive enough, but somewhere he could access easily when he needed it in case of emergency. If it wasn't in any secret compartment in his room, then it must have been somewhere in _this house_. Keeping it at his campus risked it being found by someone else. His independent (family) lab… was too far away from both his current house and campus, so accessibility was a problem.

 _Do we have a basement in the house…?_ —Kris contemplate to look for it after confirming with his body memory that indeed, the house had a basement. But before he could execute his plan, Rudy knocked on his door, informing him that breakfast was ready and that he would wake up the others so they could have breakfast together.

Kris decided to postpone his search for later, then grabbed some of his clothes and a towel before he went to set them at the counter near the bathroom. He knocked on the bathroom door twice to tell Dellons that breakfast was ready and he should hurry before Jave ate it all.

Kris then joined Rudy at the kitchen to help him set the table. Soon, everyone trickled inside the kitchen one by one. Eileen was still in her pajama, yawning, when she entered. Rachel was already prim and proper, even as far as bringing her own brewed herbal tea to drink because she refused to drink tea from a tea bag in the morning. Jave and Spike walked in together, already with their bags and ready to go since they had an early scheduled classes, Jave to the field and Spike to the factory. Dellons came in last, still damp and looking fresh with his towel still hanging on his neck, topless and only wearing a pair of sweat pants that clung to his hips sexily.

"Such indecent sight in front of the ladies," Rachel frowned at him, her cheeks colored pink slightly, as Eileen wolf-whistled blatantly eyeing Dellons' abs like a piece of meat.

"Well, you have great taste, _ladies_ ," Dellons winked at them playfully as he sat down beside a ruefully smiling Rudy. Jave made a barfing noise and Spike just ignored them all as he ate. Kris resolutely didn't look at Dellons way at all, feeling a bit uncomfortable, especially after Eileen commented that she wouldn't mind sleeping with Dellons if he weren't such an ass.

After that, Kris finished his breakfast quietly and retreated to the bathroom to shower. He couldn't help feeling Dellons baby blue eyes fixed on his back all the time during his short walk between the kitchen and the living room where their biggest communal bathroom was located.

Half an hour later, Kris, Rudy and Dellons went to campus together (after Kris did the dishes, Jave, Spike and Rachel already departed, and Eileen was taking a shower) and they parted ways to their respective building when they reached their campus. Since then, until at this moment at lunch, Kris hadn't seen his other friends again…

Kris sighed rather deeply. For some reason, the mystery book he had brought today failed miserably to hold his attention for more than three minutes at a time. He was easily distracted by what was happening around him. A Frisbee flying near him, the laughter of the other students, a whispering talk between two girls sitting just two meters away from his spot… it was slightly irritating.

Kris decided to give up his lunch-reading session and started to pack up when a tall, burly figure stopped in front of him. Kris blinked, seeing the dark chocolate colored ankle boots, and then looked upward slightly at the owner.

"Kris Tenebra?" A big Asian man, with reddish-black hair and a pair of azure colored eyes spoke to him. His expression was calm, but there was seriousness in his tone and Kris couldn't help feeling that he didn't really like this person despite only meeting him for the first time.

Though, original Kris knew this person in his original world. This was the counterpart of General Lu Bu from Aisha continent. The guy that had kicked Rudy, Rachel and Eileen's asses despite only being by himself when the three had confrontation with him. Luckily, he wasn't exactly immune to Kris' death curse, so Kris alone could corner the guy to back down and retreat before Kris could seal his fate in Death hands.

What in the world did his counterpart want with Kris' counterpart?

"Yes," Kris responded to him with low voice before standing up. He didn't like that he had to look upwards to him, but since Lu Bu was considerably taller, around 188 cm, it couldn't be helped. "Do you have business with me?" Kris asked, looking at him in the eye without fear.

Lu Bu nodded slightly, offering his hand to him in a handshake. "I'm Lu Bu, an exchange student that studied theoretical physic in this campus. Actually, I've been in your class since the start of the semester. I hadn't gotten a chance to talk to you since you seemed pretty busy. I presumed the Professor asked you to do some independent project before, but these days I saw you here most of the noon break, so I decided to come over and greet. I hope I didn't interrupt your time too much," he explained, his words and attitude polite, but the content of his speech spoke too loudly of how close observation he had done to Kris' day to day activity.

 _Stalker?_ —Kris couldn't help thinking as he nodded, confirming Lu Bu's observation.

"I'm actually quite interested in talking about that independent project, if you don't mind," Lu Bu confessed his intention, to the point, without any preamble or sugar-coat.

 _Oh… he's interested in that experiment, huh?_ —Kris contemplate in whether or not to tell Lu Bu that the Professor already cut Kris off of the participant list, but first he needed to know from where Lu Bu heard about the experiment in the first place.

"Did Professor tell you to talk to me about the experiment?" Kris asked, testing if he could trust Lu Bu's counterpart. He could feel several pairs of eyes on him now. From a silver long haired guy behind the palm tree six meter away from their spot, from a very pretty girl with straight-long dark-chocolate hair that stood just behind the whispering girls two meters on his left, and from a short man with short brown hair squatting on the middle of the park.

 _Those people are the Four Lords'… counterparts, huh? Ace, Rin, and Goku. What did they want?_ —Kris inconspicuously glanced at them, careful enough so Lu Bu wouldn't notice that Kris knew he was being watched closely.

"Yes, he said you would know better about it since you are the leading researcher of the project," Lu Bu confirmed once again and now Kris knew that this guy was lying. If he really had talked to the Professor, he would know that Kris was no longer allowed to go near the experiment since he had been banned by the higher ups.

Kris decided to keep it a secret then. He didn't trust this person. He lied to Kris in the first meeting after all. Maybe he was looking for an in to learn his campus secret. Or he could be planning something terrible using that experiment. Either way, it would be a bad idea to disclose his finding to a guy like Lu Bu.

"I'm sorry. My hands are tied. It's a classified project. Unless I am sure that you are part of the researchers, I can't reveal anything of the project to you. Do you want me to confirm with the Professor?" Kris took his cell phone out of his bag, opened the lid and started to dial Rudy's number instead of the professor to appear that he was serious with his intention.

Lu Bu widened his eyes in a slight alarm when he saw Kris fast movement in dialing he number and he raised his hand to reach for the phone in Kris' hand to stop him. But before Lu Bu's hand could touch Kris', someone else had seized Lu Bu's wrist in a tight grip.

"Sorry, big guy, My Princess doesn't like being touched by stranger." It was Dellons, pulling Lu Bu's wrist, and hand by extension, away from Kris' which thumb was still busily moving to dial Rudy's number.

"What?!" Lu Bu exclaimed in surprise because he didn't seem to notice Dellons' presence near them before and Kris secretly noted that the other three people that were watching them jump slightly in surprise as well as Dellons interfered.

"I have to ask you to back off, man. This guy here is already taken," Dellons smirked at Lu Bu, but his eyes and expression looked cold and intimidating, unlike the usual cruelly playful Dellons that liked to mess with other people just because he could. This time, Kris could actually feel an intent to _kill_ from Dellons, and it was rather frightening.

Kris stopped his typing for a moment and used his free hand to touch Dellons' tense arm as Dellons hand was still on Lu Bu's wrist. It seemed that Lu Bu was trying to free his wrist from Dellons' vice-like grip for a while then, but to no avail. If Dellons didn't loosen his clutch soon, Kris was sure he would break Lu Bu's wrist.

"Dellons, stop. You will injure your own hand that way," Kris placated the blond, caressing his arm slightly. Dellons seemed to react to his soft touch and immediately let go of Lu Bu's wrist to turn to Kris and smile at him.

"Are you alright, Princess?" Dellons reached for Kris' hand that was on his arm and then held it tenderly.

Kris let out a resigned sigh as he deadpanned at the blond. He didn't have a spare energy to be mad at Dellons anymore for calling him 'Princess' repeatedly. "I'm fine, and you're over-reacting. Lu Bu here was just talking to me," he continued, appearing annoyed, but didn't pull his hand away from Dellons' to wordlessly inform him that his intervention was welcomed. "So, Lu Bu," he turned to the pensive looking guy that was holding his wrist in a grimace and when he looked back to Kris again to regard his call, Kris sent him an ice-cold glare. "No more lying about something so sensitive, or I'll report you to the Dean," he warned and Lu Bu looked visibly humiliated as he growled in anger before he retreated, stomping away while seething.

Secretly, Kris also saw the other Four Lords' counterparts withdraw as well, completely abandoning their stealth, when they joined Lu Bu across the field.

A few minutes later Kris started to feel uncomfortable with Dellons' close proximity. "So… until when are you going to hold my hand?" Kris asked, pulling his hand slightly, but Dellons didn't let go.

"If I could, I'd never let go," Dellons pulled Kris even closer and Kris glared at him, feeling extra annoyed now.

"Quit joking around," Kris growled. But somehow, Dellons' baby blues staring at Kris' rubies deeply made Kris very awkward as well. Dellons's eyes seemed really bottomless and his expression appeared somewhat serious. It was so uncharacteristic of him. "Dellons," Kris called the blonde again, but Dellons was still in some kind of trance when he leaned into Kris and Kris felt that Dellons was about to do something embarrassing, so Kris used his hand that was still holding his cell-phone to punch the guy on his side.

Dellons winced in shock and immediately crouched down to hold his abused side while grimacing in obvious pain at the rough treatment. "Ugh… I wished you'd be gentler to your knight in shining armor, Princess…" he complained lowly, sounding slightly vexed.

"If the knight tried to molest the princess, I think it was called for. Princess couldn't be sullied by the knight," Kris huffed, going along with Dellons' knight and princess analogy while closing his cell phone before putting it back inside his bag.

"So… what was that, just now? Since when have you been associating with the _Four Lords_?" Dellons asked after he stood once again and Kris nearly dropped his bag, along with his heart sinking, at Dellons' mention of the Four Lords' tittle.

"The _what_?" Kris tried to hide his panicky and nervousness by appearing feeling ridiculous then. It couldn't be… Dellons _knew_?

"What, you didn't know? The Four Lords, four exchanged students from Asia. Incredibly rich, very smart and strong, Ace and Rin from Japan, and Lu Bu and Goku from China. They are all here with their martial arts scholar ships, but Lu Bu is very exceptional in politics as well. Rumor says he's related to the current Chinese Prime Minister or something. I haven't dug enough on the other three, but they all seem to be sons and daughter of very influencing families in their home countries. Especially that guys just now… you should be careful with Lu Bu. He looks like muscles-idiot, but he's actually incredibly clever and cunning," Dellons warned and Kris was thoughtful for a moment before he commented.

"Hmm… similar characters can tell each other's minds, huh?" Kris nodded in understanding.

"Hey, now. Are you comparing me to that guy? That's not very nice of you, Princess. I'm clearly superior to him both in mind and body," Dellons protested and Kris' sweat dropped at his arrogance. "So, what did Lu Bu want from you?" he repeated his question, apparently not easily distracted from it.

Kris eyed Dellons calculatingly before he sighed, thinking that it was okay to say it if only it could get Dellons off of his back. "He asked about the independent project I was doing for my professor some months ago," Kris said, but not telling Dellons what kind of experiment it was.

"Independent project… ah," Dellons punched his palm as he seemed to remember something. "That time when you were sleeplessly and enthusiastically building something in our basement like some kind of mad scientist, huh?"

 _What?!_ —Kris gaped.

"Why, how, wha—?! That was supposed to be a _classified_ project!" Kris shouted at Dellons in reaction, extremely shocked because— _What the HELL?!_ Did this world Kris really build a fatally dangerous device _in their basement_?! Without safety precaution whatsoever?! Was he insane?!

"Wait. Why are you angry with me? You were the one who was being noisy every night through last month and even though we came down to warn you about the noise disturbance, you just looked manically at us and said that you were going to change the world or something. Personally, I thought you really had gone mad because of too much coffee and no sleep," Dellons huffed, looking slightly confused because Kris forgot about all of that.

Well, Kris really didn't know. There was no body memory about that time that was recorded in this world Kris' brain. "It seems that… I really only functioned with half of my mind at the time…" Kris mumbled, paling severely since apparently he had endangered everyone in the house with his carelessness. "Doing such hazardous thing near my _family_ … There was something really wrong with my mind...!" Kris shuddered at the thought that he almost brought disaster to the people close to him. No, he was afraid that he already did it unconsciously. What if the device highly radioactive?

"Hey, Kris… was that experiment really that dangerous?" Dellons asked hesitantly and Kris looked upward at Dellons rather nervously, his hands shaking slightly, but he tried to hide it by clenching his fists. Kris wanted to apologize, but his voice was stuck in his throat and he couldn't exactly explain the nature of his experiment to Dellons because then Dellons would guess that _Kris_ wasn't this world Kris. If his cover was blown up, Kris would lose his mean to fix everything.

Dellons though, seemed to notice how hard it was for Kris to speak up. He probably conjured up that Kris was feeling guilty for risking him and the others' health by doing his experiment at home. Dellons patted Kris' shoulder softly then. "No worries, Princess. We're okay, aren't we?" He winked and smiled at Kris comfortingly.

"Dellons…" Kris stared at Dellons in wonder then, slightly disbelieving that Dellons could be nice too when he wanted to be.

"Of course, I'll be more in my top health if you give me a kiss every morning and night," Dellons' other hand grabbed Kris' other shoulder and he grinned cheekily before he leaned down to give Kris a kiss on the corner of his mouth.

Kris widened his eyes and his face color turned slightly green before it exploded in red as he- "You PERVERT!" yelled, clenched his fist, and sent Dellons body flying with his enraged (embarrassed) punch.

Yeah, Kris couldn't lower his guard at all around Dellons. _That stupid, crazy bastard of an asshole!_ —Kris rubbed his lips frantically. He would definitely kill him after done kicking Dellons' butt later!

* * *

**~A Seven Knights Fan fiction~**

* * *

Rudy stared at the cheerily humming Dellons—while he was doodling something in his notebook beside him, with a bead of sweat rolling down his cheek. After the lunch break was over, it was time to attend the next class. For some reason Dellons had entered the lecture hall with a bruised cheek, but his expression looked incredibly happy and flowery.

Since the professor hadn't come in yet, Rudy decided to ask. "What happened to your face?"

"Hmm?" Dellons turned to face Rudy, still smiling like an idiot. "A proof of _love_ from my beloved Princess," he chirped, completely disregarding the violent treatment to his behalf.

"I see," more sweats dropped of Rudy's face. "Though, you should probably quit provoking Kris every time you guys interact with each other. He'll end up hating you for real, you know." Rudy rested his chin on one of his palms while sighing.

"Kris… hating me?" Dellons snorted once before he started to laugh at that. "That will happen when pigs start flying, Rudy," he continued laughing for a while as Rudy shook his head, exasperated of how unbelievably confident his best friend was.

"Don't whine at me when he refuses to talk to you anymore," Rudy presaged, impishly punching Dellons' arm.

"Kris will never avoid or refuse to talk to people just because he hates them," Dellons was still chuckling as he said this, his expression so fond that it caused Rudy to widen his eyes for a moment, quite startled that Dellons could be so affectionate to someone else.

_Ah… but Kris isn't exactly 'someone else', is he? He's in our circle after all…_

Rudy knew that deep down Dellons was actually a good guy that cared about his friends and family, he was only bad at showing affection because his way of delivering his love was so twisted that people tended to misunderstand his intention. He teased the people that interested him after all.

Back then when they were in high school, as Rudy had just known the guy, Dellons also antagonized and picked a fight with Rudy all the time. If Rudy hadn't seen how Dellons beat the shit out of people that tried to frame Rudy for the stolen examination sheets so Rudy wouldn't be elected as the student council president and would be expelled from school in their sophomore year, Rudy would have still thought that Dellons was merely a delinquent-classmate instead of delinquent-best friend.

Kris was also there, even though his way of paying back those guys who dirtied Rudy's reputation was subtler and in a way crueler since it impacted their future as well. Kris was exceptional in computer science, hacking and manipulating pictures and videos was like child's play for him. Kris actually changed the record of those guys attendance in school, so all of them had to repeat a year for the lack of them. He also remotely manipulated security tape in one of the convenient store closest to their high school, showing those guys _stealing_ some stuffs from the store, and then posted the video on You***e that they had to deal with the authorities and get a criminal record in their file.

Kris made those guys' life a living hell (especially in social media) for attempting to hurt and upset Rudy. It was sweet, but also very scary at the same time. Rudy was grateful, but he couldn't help thinking that it was too much as well. Though, Kris didn't say that he was the one who did it. There was no proof of his involvement, but the way Kris looked in satisfied contempt at those guys' suffering back then told Rudy enough that he definitely had done _something_ to make them pay for inconveniencing Rudy in the first place. Kris would make a very terrifying super villain if he ever wanted to go down that path in his life.

Eileen and Rachel had been in student council as well back then as a secretary and a treasury, and they helped clear Rudy's name by mobilizing the disciplinary committee, led by Spike, to catch the real thief. He remembered they had stayed at school over night to do that. And then there was also Jave. Jave was a year younger than them, not exactly in student council, but he hung out around Spike all the time for some reason. He was supple, outgoing and very resourceful, so he made sure to spread words to other students to defend Rudy restlessly, giving him moral support. It was a crisis that Rudy was grateful for, since because of that, he knew how precious he was for his friends, how much loved he was by them. Ultimately, Rudy ended up feeling so blessed with friends like them around him.

Done reminiscing, Rudy looked at Dellons some more with a smile. "I'm glad I get to know you all," he whispered softly, but Dellons seemed to hear that as he blinked.

"What is it, Rudy, so suddenly like that? Ah, have you fallen for me?" Dellons smirked at him humorously then and Rudy flushed and punched his arm harder in reaction. "Ow! I told you to mind your strength!" the blond protested, stroking his own arm slowly.

"It's because you're always teasing people like that, you know. You reap what you sow," Rudy huffed and looked away to the front since the lecturer already arrived.

Dellons muttered something in reply, but it was too low for Rudy to catch and he only grunted in response and told Dellons to focus on the lecture for now. Still, during the lesson, Rudy couldn't help remembering what happened last night, when he was trying to apologize to Kris and following him upstairs to the veranda.

At the time, Rudy didn't get to speak to Kris, though. He didn't even get out to the veranda because from the slightly ajar door, he could see Dellons and Kris…and Dellons was holding Kris' body from behind, his mouth so close to Kris' ear and his baby blue eyes looked extremely tender when he seemed to whisper something.

Rudy felt that he had walked into a very private, intimate moment between Dellons and Kris, and somehow, he sensed that he absolutely couldn't interrupt it, so he backed off and immediately scrammed away from there.

 _And just now Dellons made such look again when he talked about Kris. He never showed that kind of expression even when he was with his girlfriends before… Is it possible that Dellons… towards Kris…?_ —it bothered Rudy. Somehow, the curious thought greatly perturbed him. But Rudy didn't know why it was unsettling him. If Dellons liked Kris _like that_ … If for Dellons Kris was _special_ , then… shouldn't he be happy for his friend finally finding _love_?

But the fact that it was _Kris_ troubled Rudy. _Why Kris?_ —Rudy's chest felt slightly tight as he thought about his other best friend.

Rudy had known Kris since they were still in elementary school. Kris was the only son of very prestigious family in town and maybe he was a bit coddled by his parents, but the silver platinum blond boy with ruby colored eyes was quiet most of the time. Their classmates misunderstood his quietness for aloofness and thought they weren't worthy of Kris' attention, but Rudy just guessed that Kris was a shy person by nature, so he greeted him first and asked him to play with Rudy.

That first sweet smile Kris bestowed Rudy when he was saying yes was still nailed so deeply inside Rudy's heart and memory. Since then, Kris talked more often, and he talked to their other classmates as well. Kris was smart with vast knowledge for a child in his age, so many curious children, including Rudy, immediately flocked to him to hear some stories that Kris knew and they hadn't heard before. Kris was also good at sport despite reading books constantly, so he was popular among the girls as well.

Well, some other boys who were jealous of Kris' popularity tried to bully him once, but Rudy wouldn't let them get away with it and even though it hadn't escalate into a fight, the yelling and shouting was quite bad that their teacher had to intervene and their parents (the nun from the orphanage in Rudy's case) were called to school. Rudy was about to tell the teacher and their guardians the truth about what happened, but Kris prevented him and told them that their playing had just gone a bit too rough, and they promised it wouldn't happen again.

In the end, it didn't end too badly because those bullies ended up apologizing to Kris and thanking him for not telling their parents about it the next day. Apparently, those boys' parents were in debt to Kris' parents, and they told their children to play nice to Kris because they would get into trouble with Kris' parents if they caused him any harm. Kris understood that from the beginning. That's why he had lied about the bullying. Kris didn't want to cause trouble for those guys' parents since he knew how big his family's influence was.

Kris… despite being so young, understood how the grown ups' world worked. Maybe he was forced to grow up because of his parents and family's high expectation. Or, maybe he didn't have a time to being a kid because even as a child, there was a lot of things Kris wanted to protect. He even apologized to Rudy for forcing him to lie despite knowing how great Rudy's sense of justice was.

However, when Rudy looked at Kris' sad smile, he not only was unable to get angry, but also couldn't help hugging the boy. Then, while holding him tightly, Rudy promised that he would protect Kris no matter what, for as long as Kris would have him.

Rudy's feeling for Kris since then hadn't changed. He still wanted to protect Kris. He wanted to shield Kris from any harm that could hurt him. It was pretty bad, his over protectiveness. He and Kris got into a fight because Rudy suffocated him too much with his presence during their middle school. Rudy got extremely possessive and obsessive towards Kris, he didn't even let Kris out of his sight and have a private chat to _anyone_. Kris punched him, threw him into the pool, and told him to cool his head off, get a grip of himself and stop being a creepy _stalker_ or he would kick Rudy's ass some more.

Rudy then realized that Kris was stronger than he appeared to be. Kris made him realize that Kris needed Rudy as a friend, not as bodyguard, and he wanted to play and study with Rudy like a normal friend. He hated that Rudy put him on a pedestal and he wanted Rudy to regard him as his best friend that could tell him anything just like Kris himself that already called Rudy his best friend.

Rudy laughed after that, feeling foolish, because he felt so strongly for Kris, more than for anyone else, he didn't know how to treat Kris like he did his other friends. He realized that Kris was _special_ because he was Rudy's _best friend_. Rudy then apologized for being stupid and Kris easily forgave him as long as he tampered down his mother-hen's tendency.

Rudy would always feel protective towards Kris, but it wasn't as bad as before. He let Kris socialize freely now, but he shouldn't have been so worried in the first place, because Kris didn't actually socialize much at all. Especially during high school… Kris was still popular of course, because he was beautiful and very smart, but people were more afraid of his family that they couldn't treat Kris like a normal friend. They always talked about Kris, but only from afar. They didn't have any guts to interact with Kris directly. Only Rudy, Dellons, Spike, Jave, Eileen and Rachel that could speak to Kris in friendly manner (in Dellons case, teasing Kris every so often) and before anyone realized it, they were dubbed as the Seven Knights of Terra High School.

Remembering about the past always made Rudy smile. There were a lot of things happening in high school, huh? Kris being hit on by a male senior, or that time when Dellons set the frying pan in home economics class on fire because he misjudged the power of the fire and the amount of oil, or that time when Spike incidentally froze the lemon because he spilled a liquid nitrogen on it during science class, Eileen and Rachel having a cat fight over Klahan, the new transfer student from Thailand, or that time when Jave brought Red to school and it escaped from its cage and flied over the school ground, terrorizing the female students… They were such fun experiences, and Rudy really wanted to have more of those amazing things together with his friends even after this.

Nevertheless, if the relationship between them changed… if Dellons was really in love with Kris and if they ended up as a couple, then… Would Rudy still be entitled to protect Kris? Would that right be given to Dellons then?

For some reason, thinking about that possibility made Rudy's heart clench in a strange ache, and… he couldn't help disliking the idea, despite not knowing the reason.

* * *

**~A Seven Knights Fan fiction~**

* * *

"Hey, Dellons…"

Dellons turned to face his best friend with a raised eyebrow. "What?" He asked as Rudy looked rather hesitant for some reason. It was after the lesson and they were getting ready to leave the lecture hall to go to their next class, but Rudy seemed a bit off since in the middle of their lesson earlier. "You know you can always tell me anything, right?" He felt rather weird that Rudy was beings self concious around him now. They had been friends since high school after all.

"No, well…" Rudy looked the other way for a moment, seeming to contemplative how to say whatever he wanted to say while his hands were stuffing his notebooks inside his bag. "It's-," he started then, still not looking back at Dellons, "It's about last night… when you were with Kris on the veranda…"

Dellons blinked once, pausing his hand for a bit, before he smirked as he continued zipping his bag. "What, you were there? _Pervert_ ," he chuckled as he decided to tease Rudy, because it was so much fun to mess with his best friend as well.

Rudy's face turned interestingly pink as a reaction and he huffed again at Dellons in slightly embarrassed mixed with exasperated look. "I was just there because I wanted to apologize to Kris! I didn't intentionally see it!" he protested, defending himself.

Dellons laughed at Rudy's mortification. "It was a joke. Sheesh, can you take a joke?" He rolled his eyes after that, still chuckling as he observed Rudy's bothered look. "And?"

"Huh?" Now Rudy looked muddled as Dellons asked him.

"What about it?" Dellons continued. "What did you see, Rudy?"

Rudy was silent for approximately a minute, just staring at Dellons' face in scrutiny, but then he looked down on his bag and zipped it as well, looking more annoyed than before. "It's stupid. Just forget it," he grabbed it and then started walking away.

"Hey, now. Don't leave me hanging like that. You'll make me curious! Wait, Rudy!" Dellons also grabbed his bag and then strutted following his friend. "Come on, man. Tell me what's wrong," he grabbed Rudy's shoulder to stop him and Rudy complied as he stopped walking, while chewing his lower lip slightly, before he faced Dellons once again in the eye and asked.

"Last night, you held Kris from behind, and you looked… You looked like you're _really_ into him. I mean, you… and-and today as well, you make _that look_ again when you talked about Kris… Are you actually serious about him?"

Dellons tilted his head aside, a bit inquisitive. "What kind of look did I make?"

"Well, you seemed to be in cloud nine whenever you talked about Kris. Didn't you notice? I mean, you never made such kind of honestly fond and happy expression even when you were with your girlfriends… I just thought that maybe… your feelings for Kris are—"

"Real?" Dellons cut Rudy's speech and the brunet snapped to look upward at Dellons, his eyes widening slightly.

"Are you… serious about Kris?" Rudy's expression gradually turned somber and Dellons could detect an uneasiness there in his voice tone and his glimmering amber eyes.

"What would you do if I said 'yes'?" Dellons reversed the question with a small smirk, observing his best friend's various changes of expression from shock to dreading and then to confusion. It was amusing how Rudy couldn't figure out what _he_ was feeling for Kris. Even though it was very obvious in his day to day behavior.

"Why are you asking me that? I'm the one that wants to know how serious you are about Kris," Rudy huffed again, apparently choosing to dodge the question as he turned into a lecturing mode. "Since you're always playing with women… Kris is not like that, Dellons. You can't play with his feelings." Aaaand here was the mother-hen that had just returned from the land of muddle.

It was such a shame. Dellons was actually very interested in witnessing how Rudy would react when he realized the nature of his feelings towards Kris. Oh, well… Dellons could always provoke him, He could be his rival for Kris' hand. Dellons would never let any other guys touch Kris, but if it was Rudy…

Dellons' smirk widened slightly at his amazingly cunning plan. "Who said I was playing with women? I seriously love them. I just don't think of them as my _special_ one," he said, earning him more 'deer caught in a headlight' look from Rudy. "But Kris… he's my Princess, _the one_ _and only_ special _Princess_ of my heart."

Dellons stared at Rudy's eyes deeply, still smirking, but he was 100% sure. Dellons could see the moment Rudy realized that he was indeed deadly serious. The brunet opened his mouth, seeming about to say something, but then he hesitated and looked away from Dellons penetrating gaze, seemingly very bothered, as if he didn't know how to react to Dellons' confession about his feelings for Kris, even though the brunet was the one that brought up the topic.

Dellons though, wasn't done messing around with Rudy because the brunet could be infuriatingly dense and annoying. "What do you think about it, Rudy?" he asked, deliberately appearing expectant of Rudy's approval.

"What? Why would you need to hear my thought about it?" Rudy sounded slightly flustered and he looked very adorable when his face turned red in perplexity like that. It was really amusing.

"Well, because you're my best buddy, _duh_ ," Dellons rolled his eyes. "If my best friend doesn't approve of my love-partner choice, it will be awkward to live with him under the same roof… together with my wannabe boyfriend, right?"

"I…" Rudy started slightly, but then he paused and looked at Dellons with trepidation as if he didn't know how to phrase his feelings into words. "I don't… know…" He finally said something after being silent for a minute. "I… need to think about it first."

Dellons turned his smirk into a smile seeing the distressed look on Rudy's face. He tapped Rudy's shoulder once before looping his arm from his side and hugged his friend across his back. "Alright, bro. No need to rush. I'm still having fun messing around with my princess after all." He snickered and Rudy scowled at him.

"Why are you making him mad all the time if you like him?" Rudy sounded and looked very disapproving now and Dellons grinned at him widely in reaction.

"Isn't it obvious? Kris' eyes shine brighter and more alive when he's pissed. It's a very beautiful look on him!" Dellons' reason apparently stunned Rudy, and seeing Rudy's dumbfounded look, Dellons couldn't help but laugh some more as he guided the still flabbergasted brunet to their next class.

* * *

**~A Seven Knights Fan fiction~**

* * *

When Kris arrived at home, he was hurrying to the basement. Of course he made sure that no one had been home yet because he skipped his last class of the day so he could come home early and have the house for himself and search it furtively. He also had secretly borrowed the radiation-measuring device from the university lab and used it to measure radiation level around the basement. Looking at the green light after he was done sweeping the quite large room, Kris sighed in relief. Whatever this world Kris had built in this basement, it wasn't radioactive.

Kris shut off the device and put it back inside his bag. He looked around the spacious room once again. Noting that it was actually used as laundry room since he found two washing machines and a sink at one corner. Other than those, there were some unused stuffs, like old couch, old dresser, and some boxes that probably stored more old things. But, Kris didn't see any device that looked like it could be used to manipulate space and time continuum.

Kris clicked his tongue in a slight frustration. If at least he knew how it looked like… Kris grumbled as he turned to the unused dresser. Maybe he kept his experiment note in one of the drawers.

As Kris was in the middle of opening those drawers one by one, he heard his cell phone ringtone. Kris paused his activity to rummage inside his bag, and then fished out his phone. He looked at the caller id and saw Rudy's name. Kris sighed before he accept the call, "Hello."

" _Ah, hey Kris."_ —Rudy's voice greeted back from the other side of the line. _"Sorry for not calling back sooner. I only opened my phone just now and saw the missed call. Did you need me for something earlier?"_

"Ah, no… that was," Kris paused. He didn't realize that his fake call to throw off Lu Bu this afternoon really connected. He thought he had terminated the call before it could. How would he explain this to Rudy? Kris never called if it wasn't important. He usually just texted or mailed. He should probably tell Rudy the truth before he heard it from someone else… or Dellons. Kris certainly didn't want Dellons to twist the story into some kind of a princess in distress being saved by a knight.

" _What's wrong, Kris? Did something happen?"_ —Now Rudy sounded concerned. Apparently Kris had been silent for too long.

"No, well," Kris started once again. "This afternoon I just needed to _appear_ to call my professor to fend off some guy. It wasn't really that important. I just remembered your phone number first, so I dialed yours. I didn't intend for it to really connect. Sorry for that."

" _Eh, did someone bother you today?"_ Rudy asked, his tone curious.

"Just a bit. He was asking about the independent project I did for my professor some months ago. It was supposed to be classified experiment and I wondered where he had heard about it from. Besides, he seemed to have been observing me for a while and he lied to me about hearing it from my professor since he didn't know that I was already cut off from the project," Kris explained and Rudy was quiet as he seemed to carefully listen to him.

" _Is it going to be a problem for you later?"_ Rudy asked somberly after that, seemingly worried.

"No. There will be no problem. I threatened to report him to the dean if he tried to dig deeper about it." Kris rested his back on the old dresser and closed his eyes, smiling slightly.

" _Uh-oh, as expected of the Golden Egg of Physic Department,"_ Rudy chuckled in reaction, probably amused at the fact that Kris had privilege and not afraid to use it.

"Besides," Kris added before Rudy could hear the twisted version from Dellons, "Dellons already told him off. With Dellons' rep, I doubt _that guy_ will come near me again."

"… _Oh."_

 _Huh?_ —Kris blinked once at the slight pause in Rudy's speech. He sounded a bit… _odd_.

"Rudy?" Kris called and there was a slight chuckle from Rudy, but it sounded strained.

" _Ah, no. I'm just a bit uneasy. I hope Dellons doesn't cause any trouble after this. You know how he is. If he thinks that that guy is going to cause a problem for us in the future, he will definitely move first to disable him. Sheesh… Dellons is worrying me all the time lately…"_ Rudy grated and Kris chuckled at his slightly bemoaning tone, even though he was slightly jealous because Rudy was worried more about Dellons' possible future action than the main issue.

 _Oh, well… that's why we like Rudy after all—_ Kris thought silently before flushing a bit when he realized what he just thought and shook his head.

"Well, we will make sure that Dellons doesn't do anything stupid again like before," Kris said as a final. "I'm hanging up, Rudy. I need to do something."

" _Okay, see you at dinner?"_ Rudy confirmed.

"See you at dinner." Kris nodded despite knowing that Rudy couldn't see him and then ended the call. He sighed once again before pocketing the phone. "Somehow… I'm starting to think that Dellons will be a rival instead of someone that needs to be turned down…"

Kris shook his head once again. It wasn't a time to think about his crush or potential rival. He needed to focus on finding the experiment note or the device this world Kris had built. He had decided to set his priorities in order after all. The most important thing was going back to his original world. As for the interrelationship between this world Kris and the others… Kris needed to refrain from interfering too much, right? If this world Kris was back and found that everything had changed around here, he would be shocked and troubled.

 _Well, I'm sure 'I' will be happy if he's closer to Rudy_ —Kris couldn't help countering. He knew himself pretty well after all.

* * *

**~A Seven Knights Fan fiction~**

* * *

Dellons intended to go harassing some people on his way home. He was ready to make some rude people's life difficult today since those guys had dared to sell some illegal drugs to one of his girlfriends, saying that it could boost her confidence and intelligence. Those guys had also preyed on some freshmen whom were still too naïve and unable to choose their friends carefully, and Dellons despised those guys for daringly touching what was _his_.

If Rudy and the others hadn't interfered yesterday, Dellons would have made sure that those guys would never show their noses in their town again. After all, Dellons was _one call away_ from his questionable friends during high school, and they still thought that Dellons was their _boss_ even after Dellons disbanded their group and turned a new leaf of his life to be an honor student as soon as he was admitted into his university. If Dellon gave them the word, they would _remove_ those _rude drug-rats_ permanently.

Of course, Rudy and the others, heck, even Dellons' family didn't know about his involvement with his old acquaintances. Dellons made sure to hide it. Besides, he was a master of deceit and manipulation. He never actually showed his face directly to his questionable friends. They were a bunch of misguided youths that had no authority figure in their lives. It was easy for Dellons to take their hearts by becoming some kind of mysterious masked leader-defender or justice that took them under his wings, protected and guided their actions through calls and mails. It was quite fun playing that role and they were pretty useful when Dellons needed extra hands to do some problematic deeds. Dellons' plans were always flawless and every mission he gave his friends always had back up to protect them from other groups and authorities. That's why they would always be loyal to Dellons. It was true that he used them, but Dellons also took care what was his after all.

Anyway, even after disbanding their group, Dellons still used them time to time. Well, you know the saying— _Rome wasn't built in one day_. Besides, even though Dellons wasn't afraid to dirty his own hands (like kicking some ungrateful asses in the pretense of self-defense), he wouldn't want to involve his _other friends_ in that dubious world where there was no black or white, but always gray area to pass through.

Especially _Rudy_. He was a pain in the ass since he kept a close tab on Dellons as often as he could, and being in the same department as Rudy wasn't helping at all even though at first Dellons thought it could be a good idea as a reverse psychological trick, to make Rudy ignore Dellons if his presence was constantly around him. People usually took something for granted if it was always around him, right? Like air, for example, no one thought much about _air_. But no. Rudy was _abnormal_. He wasn't like other people. He took everything around him as something _important_ to him and so he watched and observed and Rudy always saw through people's deepest thoughts which they desperately wanted to keep a closed lid on. It was grating most of the time of how difficult it was to throw him off, since Rudy already decided that Dellons was part of his essential circle to protect and care, so Dellons chose the ' _tease_ and _provoke_ ' method to distract Rudy from seeing too closely and luckily, it worked.

Rudy was smart and observant, but pure, simple and positive-thinking. It was the reason why Rudy caught Dellons' real intention despite his disagreeable attitude most of the time. Rudy knew that Dellons _cared_. If he didn't, Dellons wouldn't bother at all. Dellons cared about Rudy. He cared about their circle of friends. That's why, despite officially leaving that shady world of deceit and manipulation, Dellons still couldn't completely cut ties with the people in that world. Because there had to be someone in there, to make sure that Rudy and their important circle of friends were shielded from having to deal with them directly.

Dellons made it his duty as Rudy's best friend. He was alright to be the bad guy that messed other people around, being hated or resented, as long as he could keep his important ones away from the real bad guys.

_That's why…_

"Quit following me around, Rudy!" Dellons turned around to yell at the brunet that was obviously tailing him since it wasn't exactly the way to their home anymore, but Rudy was still walking after him without being stealthy at all. "Are you a stalker or what?!" Dellons was quite irritated because he couldn't shake Rudy off at all today, especially after Rudy had been on the phone with Kris earlier and learned that he had confrontation with Lu Bu.

"Our way home is the same," Rudy shrugged.

"I'm not going home today. I'm going to Victoria's place! We're having a date!" Dellons lied. Well, not exactly a lie, since he would still go to her place to dig some information about the _rats_ that sold her the drugs. Those people yesterday were just thugs the dealer was hired to shut off Dellons, the big fish was still around and Dellons needed to make sure they wouldn't touch Victoria and his other girlfriends anymore.

"Exactly how many girlfriends do you have this time? Last time it was Shane, right? Before that there were Ruri and Espada, and I heard you had been on several dates with the dance instructor, Miss Lucy, that gymnastic instructor, Miss Jane, and then there was this Indian girl, Sylvia, and also—"

"Aaaaargh, I understand! Stop it!" Dellons covered both his ears in distress, honestly feeling crept out that Rudy identified all of his girlfriends by name. He never thought that anyone could note and remember so many names in one time. "God, you really are a stalker, Rudy. How come you know all those names? I didn't even tell you about them!" he groaned before he sat down on a rock shaped like a chair that was conveniently situated around the city park walking area.

"You're just not subtle, Dellons. I can always tell when you're dating one of the girls you hang out with where I can see," Rudy sat beside him, looking at him calculatingly before continuing, "-and those women gossip loudly."

"I see." Dellons deadpanned, even though he didn't face Rudy. "But seriously, do you need to follow me around this time? I mean, I'm going on a date. It will be rude to her if you watch, right?" he complained then, telling Rudy that he was being annoying and disturbing this time.

"I'm only going to make sure that you really go there without any detour, since you seem to attract trouble on the streets lately," Rudy shrugged again.

"Is this about yesterday? I told you I was just messing with them," Dellons huffed.

"Not without reason. I know you, Dellons. You mess with people, but there's always a reason for that. You're not going to fool me with your disgruntling bad-boy attitude. I'm your best friend after all," Rudy smiled then, sending an imaginary cute small golden star to Dellons forehead that made him blink once before sighing deeply in defeat.

 _Pure, simple, and positive-thinking… Damn him for being so endearing!_ —Dellons covered his face with both palms before he moved his hands up to his head, clenching some strands of his blond hair before releasing it with another long sigh. He didn't think he could distract Rudy by provoking him this time. Yesterday fiasco was most likely a close call in Rudy's mind. He had to give him something… or Rudy would become his personal stalker all the time starting right then.

"Alright, if I tell you… would you please leave me alone?" Dellons compromised. He would tell Rudy about the reason, but Rudy had to promise not to butt in on his business after that.

"It depends on how much trouble you're in," Rudy still stubbornly bargained and a vein popped up on Dellons' head after that.

"You're being too pushy right now," Dellons grumbled.

"It's for your own good." Rudy countered.

"I'm not a _goddamn_ kid, Rudy! I can take care of myself!" Dellons raised his voice now, feeling increasingly angry instead of using his playful and teasing nature to distract Rudy like usual. Rudy widened his eyes, seemingly a bit startled at his unexpectedly strong reaction and Dellons regretted showing him his serious side immediately, because _now_ Rudy narrowed his eyes in a grave look.

"Is it really that bad?" Rudy asked and Dellons bemoaned his stupid slip inwardly as he scratched his head curtly.

"Man, Rudy… you're seriously making my life more difficult…" Dellons whined. "This is something that I do. Can you please just ignore it? _Please?_ Look, I'm even begging you this time? Can you see I'm begging? I promise there will be no sequel to this as long as I thoroughly clean it up." Yeah, he wasn't above begging now as he looked at Rudy's eyes, feeling desperate for some way out of Rudy's nosiness. Go and laugh at him.

Rudy stared at Dellons eyes for a few seconds in unreadable expression before he sighed slightly. "Alright," he gave in and Dellons perked up that _finally_ he could do his thing in peace. "But, you will _tell_ me if you need help, right? Promise me you will _not_ do anything too dangerous." He looked very worried then and Dellons, despite being an ass most of the time, didn't have a heart to kick Rudy when he was just trying to look out for Dellons' behalf, even though it was totally unnecessary.

Dellons gave Rudy a confident grin. "No problem, bro," he said before he looped an arm around Rudy's neck and held him close. "You know me. It will be alright!"

Rudy seemed astonished at first, but then he also smiled and tapped Dellons' one arm-hug once warmly. After hearing Dellons' partial explanation, he left Dellons to his own device and Dellons was back to his mission to get rid of some rude annoying people that dared to bring harm to what was his.

* * *

**~A Seven Knights Fan Fiction~**

* * *

Kris and Spike were doing dishes when Rudy got home. He looked rather worried for some reason as he ate the leftover of the dinner he had ordered and delivered via delivery service before he came home because he knew he was going to be late and wouldn't have time to cook before his friend ended up starving. Kris also noticed that Rudy kept glancing at his cell phone since Kris paid more attention to his best friend instead of the dishes he was washing.

"You're going to drop the plate if your attention keeps straying from it," Spike reminded him with already low tone and volume, yet Kris still almost dropped the plate in surprise because Spike suddenly spoke.

"Oh, sorry," Kris felt a bit embarrassed. He quickly focused back on his chore.

"Though, Rudy does seem rather distraught. Go ahead and ask him. I got this covered," Spike glanced at Kris with a small smile and Kris looked at him speechlessly for a moment before smiling at him as well.

"Thanks Spike," Kris handed Spike the plate, washed the suds off his hands, and then dried them with a small towel hanging beside him before he approached the still absentmindedly eating Rudy and sat beside the brunet, purposely making a loud noise so Rudy would notice his arrival.

Rudy snapped to look at Kris, looking slightly confused at first before a smile bloomed in his face. "Oh, hey, Kris," he greeted. But then he seemed to be at a loss of words that Kris tilted his head slightly aside.

"What's wrong? You look kind of distracted," Kris picked a chip from the plate in the middle of the table and then ate it.

"Ah… well," Rudy sounded hesitant, before he sighed and put down his spoon and fork, more than half of his usual portion of food left in his plate. "It's about Dellons," he said, his eyes downcast. His expression showed weariness and worry and Kris resented Dellons marginally for causing such tired lines to appear in Rudy's handsome face.

"What has he done this time?" Kris mimicked Rudy's worn-out sigh with his slightly annoyed one.

"He's going after those guys from yesterday," Rudy slumped and then rested his forehead on the table surface. "He said that some guys had sold illegal drugs on one of his girlfriends and some of the freshmen in our department, and those crowds yesterday night were thugs hired by the big boss dealer to take care of Dellons since he already busted some dealings previously."

"What? That's dangerous!" Suddenly Jave showed up while exclaiming in shocked look. "That idiot! Why does he always do something like that without telling us?!" and he proceeded to yell his disapproval over the matter.

Spike was apparently done with his dishes and put the last plate on the drying rack before he joined the rest for the discussion as he sat down at the table as well. "He always has to do the shady part, doesn't he? Why can't he just report it to the police and be done with it?"

Kris was silent mulling over it. Dellons in this world was more like a vigilante, huh? He was an ass, but it was a persona he had created to do bigger things in the background, not letting other people see it and acting like a bad guy to shield others from the real nasty ones.

 _Is it possible that the original Dellons also did everything with something bigger in his mind? Something more chaotic and ghastlier… something that we're not aware of?_ —Kris shook his head again, inwardly reproaching himself for once again trying to justify what the original Dellons had done to their world. Whatever the reasons, killing so many people and causing such despair to others couldn't be right. With or without the bigger picture, there were some things which shouldn't have been done. Killing Kris' men was one of them.

"What do you think we could do to help him?" Kris decided to contribute something in the conversation. This world Dellons wasn't the original Dellons. He was inside their circle of friends. He was a _family_ , so they should help him if Dellons needed them.

"That's the thing. He refused to let me in even after I followed him around today. He believes he could clean this up tonight. He even begged me to let him be, and promised there wouldn't be any sequel of this problem. I had to give in because he looked kind of desperate. I just hope that he's not over confident and underestimating his opponents." Rudy turned his head slightly and now rested his left cheek on the table.

"Tsk. He's just a prideful bastard," Jave clicked his tongue, looking bothered as he huffed.

"Well, we can always collect his bones if he lost," Spike stood again, sounding slightly unsympathetic as he signaled the end of the discussion. Kris's sweat dropped at Spike's reaction. Jave chuckled, probably amused at Spike's choice of words and Rudy just laughed ruefully, seemingly rather grateful at Spike because he made the worrying mood rather humorous instead of grave and serious.

"Well, it's Dellons. He'll be alright," Kris tapped Rudy's back lightly after that, knowing full well that what he said was true, because Dellons was a formidable person. When he gave his mind to do something, he always pulled 100% success rate. They wouldn't have to be worried about him.

* * *

**~A Seven Knights Fan Fiction~**

* * *

Dellons didn't come home for two days. At Friday, he even skipped lessons at campus and didn't show up at home at all at Saturday. None of Dellons girlfriends and friends knew where he was. By Sunday afternoon, Rudy was in the verge of calling authorities to file a missing person report. Though, before he could dial 911, the blond came home with a bruised left eye and busted lips, but they seemed to already be treated and Rudy couldn't help flying to jump the guy at the doorstep of their house and yelled at him in indignant, worried vehemence.

"You stupid, _idiotic_ bastard! Where have you been?! And what's with these injuries?! I almost reported you missing to the police, you _dumbass_!"

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry already. Can you please get off of me first? You're adding my injuries, Rudy," Dellons complained as Rudy fussed over him, not even bothering to placate the brunet, like he knew whatever he said wouldn't do him any good. Despite Dellons' rather ignorant personality, he seemed to understand Rudy's character pretty well. Rudy wouldn't be satisfied until he examined Dellons' wounds personally, so it was best to let Rudy do anything he wanted to do until he calmed down.

"You liar! You said you'd tell me if you needed help!" Rudy was still shouting as he dragged Dellons to the living room to strip the blonde off of his clothes, so as to check on whether or not Dellons had other injuries under his shirt.

"Hold it, Rudy. I already went to the hospital— whoa! Don't take my clothes off—ah! Where are you touching?!" Dellons shouted back, sounding a bit panicked.

"Shut up and stand still! Let me see your body!" Rudy wouldn't have his protest, lifted and stretched up Dellons' black t-shirt, until it was rucked up above his collarbones. Rudy saw some bruises in the mid-section of his chest and some on his right side. Rudy clicked his tongue in discontent and touched the bruise on his chest carefully.

"Ah, ouch…! D-don't touch it…! Rudy…!" Dellons grimaced, seemingly in a lot of pain, but Rudy ignored his whine and prodded the bruises gently, feeling his shoulder blade and ribs, checking his bones for any fracture. There was no _crepitation_ that he could feel, so he sighed in slight relief.

"Oh, good. It was only cosmetic damage, then…" Rudy looked upward and blinked once as he noted Dellon's slightly flushing face. His breathing was shallow and he conspicuously gulped for a few times, as if his throat was very dry. Rudy was a bit fascinated with Dellons' peculiar look and stared at him more prominently by leaning down on him more closely.

"Um…"

Both Rudy and Dellons jumped in a start at the sudden voice that came from the living room entrance. Rudy turned around slightly and Dellons looked over Rudy's shoulder to find Kris' dubious expression by then.

"I'm sorry if I interrupted you guys, but I suggest you move this _shameful_ activity inside your own room," he said, sending icy contemptuous glare at both Rudy and Dellons before he turned around and left.

" _Wha_ —shameful?!" Rudy was shocked by the accusation, but then he suddenly realized his current position: straddling Dellon's hip, his hand in the middle of stripping Dellon's shirt and touching Dellons' chest, his body looming above Dellons' and his face leaning closely to him… plus, being seen from Kris' perspective and how it must have looked like.

"AAAAH! No, no, NO! Kris!" Rudy immediately jumped off of Dellons' stupefied body and ran after the retreating silver platinum blond. "Kris! You've got it wrong! It's not like what it looks like! KRIS!"

Yeah, it was disaster after another and this apparently wasn't exactly Rudy's day at all.

**End of Round 3**

**Tbc...**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *lolololol* Aaaaand the misunderstanding continues… *ROTFL* I'm so sorry I am not sorry *LOL* Can totally imagine Rudy's face~ *still doubling over* God, that was sooo good! I just love teasing all of them! XDDD.
> 
> Ahem. Forgive my moment of *snickers* mischief. It was just so interesting, I couldn't help it! Their relationship dynamic is just very tempting to write. I know it's supposed to be Rudy/Kris, but that's the end game. Dellons is a sinful creature that begs to be paired up with Rudy as well and Kris' jealousy is so frigging CUTE! Well, thoughts, critiques, corrections? Anything you wanna say, readers? I'm happy to listen (read) it. Hit that review button and tell me about it!
> 
> **Teaser:**
> 
> "Rudy… I never realized that you think about me that way," Dellons said, looking slightly aside with a rather shy look.
> 
> "Rudy, I didn't know you swing for the other team," Jave honestly looked shocked.
> 
> "I… honestly don't know what to say," Spike seemed bemused.
> 
> "Do you need me as your beard-girlfriend?" Eileen offered, somewhat looking sympathetic.
> 
> "Of all guys hanging around you… why do you pick Dellons?" Rachel seemed still in disbelief.
> 
> Rudy just stared at his friends with his jaw hanging and mouth gaping.
> 
> Kris just harrumphed and even refused to look at him in the face anymore.


	5. Round 4: Bad or Good Kind of Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rudy is confused. His friends are frustrated. Kris is approached once more? Apparently it gets more interesting at the end...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wokey~ it seems that I'm a bit on the roll here. I dunno. I just want to write more and more each time. This is what happens when inspiration strikes and it won't leave me in peace before I write it all down… Right, just ignore my babble and please enjoy this round to the fullest! Round 4… FIGHT!
> 
> **Disclaimer and Warning: _See Prologue!_**

**A Gift from A Far Away World—a Seven Knights Fan fiction**

© lunaryu

 **Round 4:** _**Bad or Good Kind of Trouble** _

* * *

Kris was irritated.

… _Alright_ , that was an understatement of the year. Kris was downright _pissed off_. At whom, you ask? Of course at both Rudy and Dellons, but especially at _Dellons_.

 _That perverted-bastard! He laid his hands on Rudy!_ —Kris scowled deeply, glaring daggers at Dellons who seemed to be perfectly aware that he was at the receiving end of Kris' silent ominous wrath. He looked very uncomfortable to say the least, with beads of sweat trickling down his cheek.

 _And Rudy is such a dense dunce! He's an idiot!—_ Kris cursed some more inwardly as he shifted his glare at the brunet that sat beside Dellons. Rudy didn't seem to fare any better than Dellons since his face looked slightly pale, and apparently he could feel Kris' increasingly worsened mood because he didn't dare to look directly at Kris at all today.

Well, Kris didn't blame him. Yesterday Kris refused to let him in into his room at all. Rudy might actually want to explain what actually happened. Kris didn't need any explanation _per se_ , just lots of time to chill his head and his raging jealousy off. He needed to be away from both Rudy and Dellons after seeing _such thing_.

Although, _such thing_ was mostly a biased perception by Kris just because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. After he cooled down, Kris in fact could imagine what seemed to have happened. He essentially knew that _nothing_ actually happened since Rudy was _that kind of guy_. He was probably only worried about Dellons' injuries, and most likely only tried to check more closely whether or not the injuries were worse than they looked like.

Kris knew. Yeah, he _did_ , alright. It didn't mean it failed to piss Kris off so much having to see them in compromising position.

Kris stabbed the sausage on his plate murderously with a fork, and the others around him visibly winced. All the residence of the house was in the dining room at this moment and they were mostly subdued. It was a day after that afternoon _disaster_ when Kris witnessed both Rudy and Dellons getting it on ( _or was that supposed to be getting it off_?) on top of the sofa inside the living room, and the mood in the kitchen was very… thickly veiled with deadly, poisonous irritability.

Kris could feel Jave and Spike's wary eyes on him and he turned to them in silent warning not to comment on his mood then. Rachel and Eileen also glanced at each other meaningfully after time to time looking at Rudy, Dellons and Kris sequentially.

"So," apparently, the one who couldn't stand this heavy atmosphere was Jave. "Who'd like to hear about Red's adventure at the woods the other day?" He was seemingly desperate to try to break the ice, but it only made everything more awkward. Spike patted his shoulder and shook his head slightly and Jave sighed in disappointment.

It didn't get any better after that. They kept eating dinner in uncomfortable silence before there was a clinking sound as Dellons dropped his spoon on his plate so suddenly. He hugged himself and slowly glanced at Rudy beside him in unsure expression.

"Rudy… I never realized that you think about me that way," Dellons said, looking slightly aside with a rather shy look now.

Every activity in the room seemed to cease in pregnant stillness, and as if it had been a cue, the dam broke.

"Rudy, I didn't know you swing for the other team," Jave scrupulously looked shocked, staring at Rudy with both wonder and horror.

"I… honestly don't know what to say," Spike seemed bemused, only looking at Rudy once before looking away. Somehow, he appeared rather doleful then.

"Do you need me as your beard-girlfriend?" Eileen offered, somewhat looking sympathetic as she also considered Rudy, sounding almost charmed actually.

"Of all people hanging around you… why do you pick Dellons?" Rachel seemed still in disbelief of that news, and she didn't hide her disapproval of Rudy's choice.

Rudy just stared at his friends with his jaw hanging and mouth gaping.

Kris, with his left eyebrow and eye twitching, just harrumphed and even refused to look at Rudy in the face anymore then.

After some seconds of awkward silence, it was—

"W-wait a minute, all of you! I told you it was a misunderstanding!" Rudy exploded, his face beet-red in obvious embarrassment.

"Rudy, you should have told me how you feel before you did something like _that_ yesterday," Dellons sighed, hugging himself tighter. "I feel rather violated." He pouted then, acting cutely.

"Dellons, you bastard! Stop saying things that could cause further misinterpretation!" Rudy shouted and lunged at his blond friend to give him a knuckle attack while Dellons just laughed as he dug away from Rudy's grasp, and then they suddenly started the game of tag inside the kitchen while the others sniggered, giggled and chuckled amusedly seeing their childish act.

"Boys…" Rachel rolled her eyes and shook her head in fond exasperation and somehow this situation suddenly alleviated all the heavy mood and atmosphere just minutes ago.

Kris was still very annoyed though, because despite what happened yesterday, both Rudy and Dellons could still act like it was just an everyday joke and they seemed so much closer than before. Kris just couldn't help biting his lower lip in burning feeling of envy of their easy and casual relationship.

Rudy and Dellons were the epitome of best friends, indeed. Kris wanted something like that with Rudy too, but mostly he… wanted something _more_.

It seemed that Dellons really had become a _rival_ after all.

* * *

**~A Seven Knight Fan Fiction~**

* * *

Later that night, when Kris was doing his homework inside his room, someone knocked on his door twice.

"Kris?"

Kris recognized Rudy's voice immediately and sighed before closing his worksheet and putting his pen down. "Come in," he said as he stood from his desk and moved to sit on his bed.

Rudy opened the door and sneaked his head inside the room, looking around. Upon finding Kris' figure, he smiled and let himself in before closing the bedroom door once again. "Hey," he greeted as he approached Kris.

Kris acknowledged Rudy with a light nod before he patted the mattress beside him in invitation. Rudy's smile widened at that and he hurried to sit there. "What's up?" Kris asked.

"Uh… I just want to explain what happened… you know? About yesterday," Rudy scratched his cheek in a rather guilty look.

Kris huffed. "You already explained enough," he said before he stood once again and moved back to his desk, intending to continue doing his homework since this conversation didn't seem to be important enough.

"Yeah, but… I feel like I really should explain properly to you. I was very worried yesterday and Dellons came home in such state… He had been injured more than usual, you know, so I—"

"Why do you feel the need to explain to me properly?" Kris cut his explanation midway, not even looking at Rudy as he did. He didn't intend to fester in his preposterous jealousy. It was petty and juvenile. Kris was actually older on the inside anyway. He already knew that it was just misunderstanding, so he didn't feel there was a need for Rudy to enlighten him further about the matter. "Whomever you choose to do whatever with, it's all up to you. You're your own person and you don't actually need my permission to do your own thing."

It might sound colder than Kris meant and Rudy's silence after that notified Kris that he might have gone too far with his words. But Kris didn't want to take back all of it because it was true. Rudy had a freedom of choice in whatever he wanted to do with his life and whomever he chose to be with, Kris didn't have right to dictate them. He was just Rudy's best friend. He didn't even have any right to be jealous of them. If he really was Rudy's best friend like he thought he was, then Kris had to be happy and supportive of Rudy's choice other half, unless they were criminals or had potential to hurt Rudy in the long run.

"You're right, Kris," Rudy said softly after being quiet for a full minute. "I don't have to explain to you, but I want to anyway," he added more gently and Kris had to paused his writing as he turned back to face Rudy. The brunet was holding the chest part of his clothes, looking a bit disheartened. "Because I don't want you to misunderstand, Dellons and I are just best friends and nothing more."

Kris was quietly staring at Rudy's weak smile and he sighed deeply in a slight vexation. "You're indeed too dense as always," he whispered lowly, pretty sure that Rudy didn't hear him, before he smiled slightly as well. "Well, if you decide to date Dellons, I will do my utmost best to sabotage your relationship, though."

Kris commented loudly after that, turning back to his homework without further care for Rudy as the brunet "Eeeeeh?" whined at Kris in confused, bewildered tone.

* * *

**~A Seven Knight Fan Fiction~**

* * *

Rudy looked thoughtful when he was watering the plants on their boarding house yard. Those plants and herbs were mostly planted by their landlord, but Jave had a small patch of soil dedicated to cherry tomatoes (they were Red's favorite snack) and all the occupants of the house took turn to take care of those exotic plants.

Both Jave and Spike were mowing the lawn as they spotted Rudy, and apparently, the tall brunet was spacing out because he kept watering the same plant even though the ground already too soggy for more water.

"What is he doing?" Spike's sweat dropped as Jave called out to Rudy in alarm seeing the tragedy in the making.

"Rudy! The plant is drowning!"

Rudy seemed to snap out of his reverie with that yell and yelped in shock as he realized what he had done to the poor plant. "Aaah! The cherry tomatoes!" and he seemed to panic, so Jave abandoned his mowing gear and ran towards Rudy to save the delicate plantation from its impending devastation.

"Sheesh, be more careful, Rudy. This plant needs specific amount of water to survive," Jave hurriedly and expertly moved the almost drowned plant to a nearby pot, intending to wait for the soil on the ground to dry a little before he could re-plant it there.

"Sorry, I was… thinking," Rudy sighed, looking regretful.

"You're not just thinking, but spacing out, you-dunce. What's wrong? It's not like you to be so unfocused," Jave patted the soil in the pot after he buried the plant roots before he looked upward at the crouching Rudy beside him.

"Yeah, sorry about that… I'm just… there's a lot on my mind right now," Rudy took off his rubber gloves and put them down before he swept his sweaty hair back and sighed.

"Well, I'm all ears if you want to talk," Jave sat down on the ground looking at Rudy expectantly and waiting for the brunet to start talking. Spike could handle mowing the lawn by himself for a while anyway. Rudy seemed to be troubled by something and in great need to talk to other people about it.

"No, well… it's about something Kris said the other day," Rudy scratched his head, looking confused and uneasy.

"What other day? Wait, what did he say?" Jave raised his eyebrows, interested in it. After all, he knew how the silver platinum blond felt about Rudy. Well, everyone knew except Rudy himself. It was possible that Kris finally got the courage to confess but somehow Rudy still didn't catch up.

"Um, it was after dinner two days ago, when you guys made fun of me for the misunderstanding of Dellons and my relationship," Rudy explained further. "I went to Kris to explain that there was nothing between Dellons and me. Kris said I was free to do whatever with whomever and I didn't need his approval for all of those."

"Oh, man… Kris was still pissed then," Jave cringed, couldn't help feeling rather empathetic towards Rudy. Kris could really hold a grudge after all. Well, after two days, he should have realized that it was just misunderstanding, so maybe Kris' jealousy was the cause of his prolonged resentment.

"But, he didn't sound angry," Rudy frowned, sounding discouraged. "I'd know if he was still angry. Kris sounded almost… distant, somehow, like he didn't care."

"Rudy…" Jave looked at his friend compassionately.

"And then he said something very peculiar," Rudy continued. "Kris said, if I chose to date Dellons, he would do his best to sabotage our relationship."

 _Whoa! Kris was so daring! That was like saying 'choose me instead!'_ —Jave gaped, surprised, but feeling slightly excited as well for the progress. This way, Rudy surely would notice Kris' feeling!

"What do you think, Jave? Why did he say something like that? I mean, I don't intend to date Dellons. He's my best friend after all. But why would Kris try to sabotage our relationship if it was the case?" Rudy looked extremely befuddled now and Jave actually comically fell down, wanting to bash his own (or Rudy's) head on the nearest bark of tree after realizing that Rudy still didn't get it even after all of that.

"Wait, how come you didn't understand that he was jealous?!" Jave shouted at Rudy, exasperated and frustrated because Rudy was so dense! It was almost a crime to be that oblivious, _damn it_!

"J-jealous?" Now, Rudy sounded perplexed, looking almost overwhelmed even, and Jave felt rather bad that he had blurted out Kris' secret in front of his crush, but it couldn't be helped! He meant, Rudy wouldn't understand if it didn't hit him in the face!

"Jealous… Kris was…?" For some reason, now Rudy's face paled and his expression looked even more bothered. "Is… is it possibly because Kris… likes Dellons _that way_?"

… Rudy's worried mumble just killed a part of Jave's brain.

Rudy was an idiot. Yeah, he was academically smart, very kind and supple and everybody liked him and all, but he was still an utter thick idiot. Now Jave felt _a lot_ for Kris' behalf. Oh well, but Jave still wouldn't get himself mixed up in this ridiculous ( _not-exactly yet_ ) love-triangle. Nope. _Nuh-huh_. He'd rather watch in the sideline because it seemed safer and less problematic.

"I see… Kris is against a _wall_ after all," Jave deadpanned, stood up and turned away from Rudy who was still muttering about Kris and Dellons being _that way_ and didn't seem to realize that Jave didn't want to hear any more of his silly assumption.

 _Kris has to say the 'L' word if he wants Rudy to understand his feeling. I'm rooting for you, Kris! Do your best!_ —Jave couldn't help cheering for his friend inwardly. It would be a hard path against that legendary obliviousness, but he was sure if anyone could get through Rudy's thick skull, it would be Kris.

* * *

**~A Seven Knight Fan Fiction~**

* * *

Kris bit into his bread rather roughly. He wasn't usually a messy eater since he was raised in environment that paid highly attention to mannerism, but this time he was just too out of it to give a damn. He was annoyed and frustrated because he still couldn't find his note.

Oh no, of course Kris hadn't given up on searching his experiment note despite the distraction called his interpersonal relationship. But no matter how hard he tried to look for it, the _thing_ just refused to be found in his boarding house. Where in the world could it be? He had looked for it everywhere inside the house except his friends' rooms.

 _Had I left it in my private lab after all?_ —Kris frowned deeply. It seemed improbable, because Kris Tenebra's private lab was located in his family home and Kris had been building _something_ in the basement of his boarding house. Besides, he wasn't really fond of his blood relative (except maybe his mother). Since Kris had gone to university, he rarely came home even in holydays. He wasn't close with his father who demanded his accomplishment at every turn because Kris was the heir of his business empire.

Kris Tenebra was scientist in every aspect of his mind and heart. He loved theoretical physics and math language. His dream was to find ways for theories to be applied in everyday life. It wasn't like he hated politic and management, they were also necessary if he wanted to succeed with his life, but his father's way of doing things sometime didn't sit right with his principle.

Kris tried to fulfill his father's every demand and expectation though, so a little freedom of choice that was given to him wouldn't be taken away. He had been doing it since he was a child. He was used to it despite not liking it. But this life that he had with his friends outside of his family's scrutiny was the only thing he wouldn't give up no matter what the cost was. He only had four years in college, so he would try his hardest to protect these specific years from his family's interference.

That's why, using his independent lab in his family home was _out of option_. Kris wouldn't keep his important experiment / journal there, because it was not only too far from his current home, but also too close to his blood-family's eyes.

 _If father knew what I was experimenting with, who knows what he'd do to somehow use it to facilitate his ambition?_ —Kris sighed deeply as he thought about it. Human's greed was endless.

Kris finished his lunch alone again for the day since both Rudy and Dellons apparently had a deadline of one of their class joint projects. They said they would be in the central library working on it during lunch break. Maybe Kris should go there as well if only just to be an onlooker of their effort in finishing their project. It was better than being alone and getting depressed over things that he couldn't help himself with.

Kris packed up and was ready to leave his spot when someone approached him from behind. Kris turned to the person only to blink once when he found Lu Bu _again_ there. "Kris Tenebra," he called slowly, but with wary expression, seemingly serious from the start and foregoing his pretend politeness.

_Wow, even Dellons' rep can't hold him off for more than a week. Is he that desperate?_

"Lu Bu," Kris greeted him back with a nod. "What do you want?" He asked, also skipping out his fake friendliness.

"I need… no, _we_ need to talk to you in private about _that_ experiment," Lu Bu seemed to decide to speak to the point and Kris could appreciate his honesty this time when his friends also approached Kris from behind Lu Bu.

"And why do I need to speak to you guys about _my_ classified experiment?" Kris crossed his arms on his chest, raising one of his eyebrows as he looked at those people that crowded him in their eyes.

"This has something to do with the matter of national security," Rin, the only girl in the group, spoke up with low tone and voice, sounding grave and looking discreet at the same time.

"We didn't mean to raise your guard up the other day. Lu Bu was just not good with chatting people up," Goku piped up, snorting slightly, and Lu Bu visibly scowled at him.

"We hope we could interest you in joining our important _confidential_ discussion, Kris Tenebra," Ace spoke with a small smile. "We're not trying to pressure you, but as Rin said, the matter of national security is at stake. As a citizen of this country, you actually have an obligation to help us," he continued ruefully, sweeping his long, bluish-silver hair behind his ear.

Well, it was better than lying to Kris about it. If Lu Bu had said something like this the other day, Kris would have gladly told him about what he knew, which was close to _nothing_ because he hadn't found his note yet. But since it seemed really important and _bigger_ than what Kris had thought, he needed to have all the facts from their side first before he was willing to give them any information.

"I hope we wouldn't talk here. It's too public, don't you think?" Kris responded to them with a sigh after noticing that other people turned their heads to their group. Of course, Four Lords weren't just a name. Those four were very popular, just like Dellons said. Besides, even though usually other students left Kris alone most of the time (since he hated crowding), they actually _watched_ Kris. Some people (girls, mostly) really did admire him after all.

_It will be very unwise to continue speaking about sensitive matter here._

"Why don't we discuss this somewhere else more… discreet, at another time? I have class after the lunch break is over," Kris bargained. The four of his new acquaintances agreed after they asked for Kris' number and gave him theirs, so they could contact each other if necessary.

 _Well, isn't it getting more interesting each day?_ —Kris couldn't help thinking in deadpan, actually pretty curious about it, as he stared at the four new cell-phone numbers in his contact-list after they bid him good bye and walked away.

* * *

**~A Seven Knight Fan Fiction~**

* * *

Eileen stared at Kris' back in perplexity after the silver platinum blond man asked to _borrow_ her laptop—when he suddenly visited her in her class right after they were dismissed by her professor, and then proceeded to _hack_ the security system of their campus right in front of her nose.

"Kris, you know that hacking is _illegal_ , right?" she couldn't help asking herself inwardly if Kris had finally lost his mind. Kris only nodded once in response to her question, but didn't look away from the screen. "So… why the _heck_ are you using _my_ laptop to do such unlawful thing while you know very well that I take Law and Criminal Justice as my major and have an obligation to turn you in if I witness _crime_ you are committing right now?"

Sometimes she couldn't understand her mostly quiet (but prodigious) friend. Well, people generally couldn't really comprehend Kris unless he spoke up his mind, and he didn't have any problem with it because he was _trained_ to speak in public by his prestigious family regardless of liking it or not, but to _speak out_ his real feeling and intention was another thing, and right now, Eileen had a difficult time reading Kris' intention.

 _Alright_ , Kris probably wanted to know some information that their campus had but wasn't intended for public's eyes. That much Eileen understood. But why was he using her laptop and doing it without discretion? She doubted that he intended to make her take responsibility for his illegal bidding. He was too bold doing it in front of her like that. Besides, Kris wasn't that kind of person.

"That's why I'm doing it with your laptop and in your knowledge, so I will have witness that I don't access things that will land me in jail if this ever come to light," Kris gave her a small smile and Eileen dropped her head on the table surface with a deep sigh.

"I get it. You make me an accomplice so I won't report you," she groaned. Kris was sly. He knew if she _knew_ it was nothing bad she wouldn't even raise attention to herself and her friend. Making scandal in her student year would be bad on her rep after all, and against Kris was like against the whole campus (especially Kris' fans, they could be real nasty if they wanted to be).

"No, that's not what I mean," Kris denied with a light chuckle. "You can report me, but I'm pretty sure you will have to explain what I do and it won't matter in the end because _I_ designed this campus firewall and security system for the last year. They will just assume I have something to fix briefly in the system since I'm doing it with your laptop instead of mine," he explained.

"Wow, that sounds even more cunning than forcibly using me as your accomplice," Eileen laughed lightly at that, feeling rather flattered that Kris trusted her enough to lay all his devious idea in silver platter for her to understand.

Eileen and Kris had only known each other since their sophomore year in high school, and just because Rudy was elected to be a student council president. She had to work with Rudy and Rachel, and Kris sometimes came by to help them sorting data and setting up security in their computer system. Actually, she had known Kris by name and look since their freshmen year because of Kris' rep as the one and only heir of Tenebra Group.

Rachel, as the heiress of Agni Group, had met Kris on several occasion in some kind of formal prestigious family parties, but never talked to each other pass obligatory greeting. Rachel told Eileen about Kris first before Eileen got to know Kris personally when Rudy introduced him to the Student Council's committee. Eileen instantly knew that Kris wasn't exactly comfortable in the crowd, but was forced to get used to it and even though he didn't look like it, he was actually pretty sly and crafty when he put his mind into it, like that time when he ruined some people's future because they dared to frame Rudy for the stolen examination sheets. That was pretty bad because Kris had done illegal things like hacking school computer system and changed records of school attendance. At the time she had no hard proof that he did it, but he didn't deny nor admit it when she asked him about it.

" _What do you think?"_

At the time, Kris only smirked ambiguously as he asked her back. Eileen was pretty sure he indeed _did it_ , but since she had no proof, she couldn't do anything about it, and honestly, she didn't want to. Those people deserved the punishment after all, and Kris wouldn't have done it if it wasn't necessary.

Besides, a bigger pain in the ass named Dellons was in their year, and Dellons actually kicked those nuisances' asses to the next week as he sent them all to hospital with broken bones here and there. She didn't realize that Dellons regarded Rudy so highly that he even couldn't stand other people messing with him. She meant, Dellons had provoked Rudy constantly since the first time they laid eyes on each other, and everyone thought Dellons hated Rudy's guts to the core, but he said something twistedly _sweet_ when he was asked why he beat those people.

" _Isn't it obvious? Only I am allowed to mess with Rudy."_

Moreover, Dellons said that with a scarily saccharine smile too. People dubbed Dellons the shadow ruler of Terra High School because of that. Upfront, he was antagonizing Rudy all the time, but he did all the dubious work student council couldn't do at the backside to support Rudy's reign as student council president. He was such a confusing, contradictory character, but Dellons was also very charming and popular among the girls even until now. Because of his interesting eccentricity and twisted benevolence, Rudy called him his best friend and even Eileen, Rachel, Kris, Spike and Jave couldn't really leave him alone after that.

Also, there was this weird three-way relationship between Rudy, Kris and Dellons. Eileen didn't know how or why, but although they were childhood best friend, it was clear that Kris harbored romantic feelings toward Rudy despite the brunet being too dense to even realize it. And yet, seeming to disregard Kris' crush on Rudy, Dellons didn't make a secret of his infatuation with Kris even though his way of showing his love for the silver platinum blond was by flirting and harassing him every chance he got, mostly pissing Kris off so he couldn't ignore him. But Dellons and Rudy were best friends, and even if Rudy seemed to have feelings for Kris as well, he apparently didn't get the nature of his own feeling. Moreover, it was complicated by the fact that Rudy could never stray his perseverance from Dellons because the blond was a troublemaker to the core and Rudy didn't have a heart to let Dellons be. And even though it sounded dubious, Dellons apparently basked in Rudy's almost undivided attention to him in a weird way…

_Yeah, it's very complicated between those three…_

But Eileen secretly thought that their relationship dynamic was very entertaining despite frustrating at times. Personally, she wanted Rudy to quickly realize his own feelings toward Kris, so it could spare them all from watching the hopelessness of the situation. Rudy and Kris were good together. Well, she would probably feel bad for Dellons, but for some reason, she had a hunch that Dellons' twisted, aggressive courting towards Kris was probably the blond' scheme to make Rudy realize his own feeling for Kris, and possibly to make the brunet take action for it.

 _Ugh, Dellons isn't that nice of a guy, though…—_ Eileen rolled her eyes slightly, chuckling awkwardly.

"Hmm? Are you laughing at me?" Kris asked and Eileen blinked out of her train of thought.

"Oh, what? No, I was just remembering something funny," Eileen snickered again, trying to put an end of her ridiculous thought about her friends' love-triangle problem. Kris shook his head at that as he kept typing something in her laptop. "So… are you going to tell me what kind of information you're looking for that you have to hack in our campus computer system?" She straightened her back after calming down enough to focus her mind on more serious matter.

"Hmm? Ah, it's nothing much. I only want to look up some students' data, since they weren't available for public viewing," Kris said and Eileen raised her eyebrows at that.

"Wow, that's rare. You're actually interested in knowing more about other people beyond the need to know base," Eileen felt mildly interested now, because people that could get attention from Kris Tenebra usually weren't ordinary people.

"That's rude. I do pay attention to other people when I need to," Kris huffed, glancing at her in a light grouch before he focused once again on the screen.

"Well, it's still rare occurrence," Eileen sniggered again since Kris sulking was a cute sight to behold. "Who are these students then?" She crowded Kris space to look over his shoulder and found data about four foreign students.

Eileen blinked when some of the lines of their biography were blacked out. "What the…?" Why were they blacked out? It was campus record, right? It wasn't normal that mere students' information were blacked out even in campus record.

_Unless…_

"So even our campus doesn't have the whole information of their identities…" Kris' low mutter alerted Eileen.

"Kris?" Suddenly Eileen felt worried. Who were these people? Did they do something? What did Kris have to do with them?

"It seems that unless I get to know them personally, I won't be able to uncover their intention completely," Kris closed up the window and shut down the system before he closed the lid of Eileen's laptop.

"Kris… who are these people?" Eileen was seriously curious now and she needed answer whether it would somehow bring problem to Kris specifically or to them in general.

"I haven't known exactly yet. They could be allies, but could be foes as well." Kris stood up and grabbed his bag. "Thanks for lending me your laptop, Eileen," he said before walking away.

"Kris!" Eileen called loudly and Kris turned back to her. "You need to tell us if you need help in _anything_ at all, okay?" Eileen said seriously and Kris gave her another small smile. He raised his hand and made an okay gesture with his fingers before he got out of the lecture hall.

 _So Kris wants information about those people, huh, because he hasn't figured them out completely yet?_ —Eileen recalled the names of those people that Kris had looked up earlier.

_Lu Bu, Son Goku, Ryuujou Rin, Mikazuki Ace…_

It seemed that Eileen needed to look them up as well. She'd keep an eye on them after that. "Don't do anything rash, Kris."

* * *

**~A Seven Knight Fan Fiction~**

* * *

Jave and Spike were on the way home when they stumbled upon Rudy and Dellons just coming out from the grocery store.

"Rudy!" Jave called as he sped his steps, Spike following with his longer strides.

Rudy, upon hearing his call, paused and turned. "Oh, hey guys," then greeted them back.

"Shopping for dinner?" Jave asked the brunet after seeing the plastic bag full of green vegetables, carrots, tomatoes and cucumbers. He blinked at the cucumbers, wondering why Rudy purchased them.

"What about you guys? Just finishing your date?" Dellons asked, smirking teasingly while looking at Jave and Spike alternatively. The blue eyed blond that stood beside Rudy also carried a bag, but made of brown carton. Jave couldn't see what was inside since Dellons hugged the bag upright on his chest and, although Jave hated to admit it, the blond was 6 cm taller than him.

Spike seemed to ignore Dellons by not raising to his usual bait, while "Oh, you're there, Dellons?" Jave blinked at the blond in feigned innocence, acting like he just saw him there.

"Cheeky brats," Dellons scoffed at them in a visible annoyance and Rudy just chuckled.

"We're going to have fruit salad and hotpot today," the brunet answered Jave's unsaid question with his 'going shopping' inquiry earlier.

"Ah, so that's what the cucumbers for," Spike commented, apparently also wondering about that particular purchase. No one in the house ate cucumber after all, except when it was made into pickles or mixed into fruit salad.

"Wait, hotpot? What about the meat? I don't see any meat there," Jave pulled part of the plastic bag to look more deeply inside the bag for the 'must be there' item in the hotpot.

"Relax, Dellons is holding them right there," Rudy pointed at the carton bag in Dellons arms with his thumb.

"There are also tofu, _shiitake_ , _matsutake_ and _enokitake_ (1) in here. It will be great addition to the hotpot," Dellons grinned roguishly as he patted the carton twice.

"You mean… _Sukiyaki_ (2)?!" Jave eyes sparkled in excitement at the prospect since Jave loved Japanese food, and Spike chuckled seeing him. "Ah! Just now you laughed at me, didn't you?" Jave turned to Spike and pouted at him and Spike covered his mouth with the back of his hand, seemingly still pretty amused since his shoulders shook a little. "Spike~!" he whined at Spike then, a bit mad that the taller man made fun of him.

"No, I'm sorry," Spike chuckled again some more before he softened his gaze at Jave and reached his hand out to ruffle Jave's hair. "You just look adorable when you're excited," he said with a kind smile and Jave couldn't help flushing a bit and his hear skipping a beat feeling the affection from Spike gentle touch and expression.

"Whoa… I think my teeth hurt a bit seeing that," Dellons quipped.

"Dellons," Rudy chided the blond as Dellons cackled and Jave decided to ignore the comment as he chose to look at Spike's glimmering olive green eyes.

Spike also didn't seem to mind Dellons' mocking as he continued ruffling Jave's hair, as if he couldn't get enough. It was clear even to Jave that Spike was fond of him. He hadn't been always a touchy-feely kind of guy. Just the opposite actually, Spike didn't like to touch or be touched before, when Jave met him for the first time.

Jave met Rudy, Kris, Dellons, Eileen and Rachel when he went into high school, but Spike went to the same middle school as Jave and he was Jave's senior at Hockey Club. Spike was an amazing player, especially in ice hockey game. The way he glided on the rink while holding the staff and sliding the puck, the way he passed every opponent in his way like he was dancing on ice… Spike always looked so cool when he played. He was the best player in their middle school and he was also chosen as a candidate of junior player under 16 representing their state in that year Olympic when he was in his second year of middle school. However, something also happened that year. Jave hadn't known the detail, but he heard there was some kind of family issue, and there was also a rumor that he beat some people half to death or something that in the end, Spike's candidacy was revoked and he was banned from playing in every official match after that.

Jave didn't know what really happened even until now. Spike refused to talk and the school made a huge deal of covering up whatever actually had gone down, but it still couldn't save Spike career in the sport anymore so he finally resigned in his third year. Jave idolized Spike, but he couldn't do anything to help him. Spike… didn't talk much before the incident, but after that… he didn't speak to anyone at all. He always look dark and deadly, and there was this violent vibe around him that made everyone afraid to even greet him. Jave ignored all that warning sign and kept trying to talk to Spike even though he knew he was just being a bother. Spike mostly ignored him when he was around, not even regarding his presence, but Jave didn't give up and kept it up until the end, until Spike's graduation day.

When Jave congratulated Spike with a happy grin behind their school building, for the first time since after he was done with the sport, Spike looked at Jave again in the eye. His eyes were cold and Jave thought that he had crossed the line this time and Spike would finally hit him as a parting gift of being a nuisance in his final year. But instead of a punch, Spike gave him a hug.

" _Thank you."_

Spike had spoken then near his ear and Jave felt like he was about to cry. It was short and simple, but weighted more than any word or gesture that could convey that what Jave had been doing hadn't been for naught, that somehow he had helped despite just being _there_. When Spike pulled back and looked at Jave once more, his olive green eyes were no longer as cold as the color of winter, it was glimmering like auroras and at that moment Jave realized.

_Ah, I love this person..._

It was such a shock. The realization hit him so hard his feet almost buckled. And comprehending that it was too late because Spike was graduating and he wouldn't see him again after that, Jave cried then. Spike only ruffled his hair gently for a few seconds before he turned and then walked away.

It was a bittersweet experience for Jave. Before, he didn't realize that love could be nurtured between two guys and even though there was confusion at first because he was just still a boy and hadn't experienced such kind of feeling previously, he could and had completely accepted that it was _love_ that he felt for Spike at the time. It was different from his feeling towards his family and friends. It was a feeling that was painful but made him warm and _happy_ to have it inside his heart.

Jave… had wanted to treasure that feeling and always remembered Spike as his first love… _at first_.

Actually, Jave was a bit depressed after Spike graduated, so his foster parents bought him a dragon egg. Ahem, it was actually a Flying Dragon Lizard egg, but his foster parents loved fairy tale and they tried to convert Jave since he was a six year old kid to be a believer and maybe he had hoped a bit that it was a real dragon egg because of _the name_ of the species, you got the gist. So Jave took care of the egg as a way to pour and nurture his unspoken love to Spike, and then Red was born from it. Jave loved Red like he was a family, a brother. He always thought that by loving Red, somehow, his love could also be channeled to Spike. It was silly of course, but Jave felt a lot better after having Red to care for.

But fate had a unique way to tease people, indeed. Who would have thought that Jave would attend the same high school as Spike a year after that? Jave was completely ecstatic when he found Spike again. You could say that the 'love' was doubled in amount if it could be measured by numbers (he had Red and Spike after all). After that, Jave hadn't left Spike's side ever since.

Spike in high school was mellower than he was in middle school. Jave believed it was because he had met Rudy and the others. They were a bunch of mixed weirdoes at first glance. Rudy was an orphan, but he had had a foster family like Jave since he was 14, and time to time Rudy still went to the orphanage where he was originally brought up. He was a kind person with a great sense of justice, was clever, witty, and very good in making other people like him.

Kris was… a strange one. He was very popular because of his status as an heir of Tenebra Group, but he was rather reclusive… _Well,_ not exactly since he could actually speak in front of a lot of people when it was necessary, but people seemed to be overly cautious when they talked to Kris, as if a disaster would befall their life if they misspoke to him. He was also a genius in computer science. He helped installing security system for Student Council, Treasury and Disciplinary Committee's computers. Spike talked to Kris time to time, but they were a bit awkward around each other since neither was outspoken kind of guy.

Dellons was kind of like… a _frenemy_. He was a delinquent, an ass, and he was rude to everyone, but girls really _liked_ him. Even though he made a lot of remarks that pissed a lot of people, no one actually hated him. He also kind of became a stress-reliever to Spike. Spike had a temper and dealing with rule-breakers all the time seemed to stretch his temper to the limit. Dellons was a frequent rule-breaker and he was quite strong in combat since he practice martial arts, so… whenever Spike needed to blow off some steam, he fought Dellons _seriously_. Spike went kind of _berserk_ every time he fought Dellons, like the pent up violent side of him came out all at once. Spike never had to worry about hurting Dellons that badly because somehow Dellons had always survived the fight with minimal injuries.

Eileen and Rachel were also an interesting combination. Rachel was the heiress of Agni Group and Eileen was a common high school girl from a common family. Their history went back since kindergarten, apparently. They were in student council with Rudy and they knew Spike because he was the head of Disciplinary Committee. They were friends in the same circle and they were strong-willed girls that had no fear of _anyone_. Maybe it was because of their tough personality that they could speak what was in their mind clearly and their fearless character gave them leeway to communicate with Spike efficiently.

Jave found those people amazing, even Dellons despite being aggravating most of the time. Moreover, they accepted Jave into their circle of friends with open arms. It was wonderful three years of high school for Jave afterwards. Well, maybe two since they graduated a year earlier than Jave, but it didn't matter because he moved into their boarding house after that and lived with them like a family. I was full of wonderful, exciting experience and Jave was happy being with them. _Very happy_ indeed that he almost didn't think much of his _love_ towards Spike.

Being together, living under the same roof, taking care of each other, Red and everyone… it was enough for Jave. But now, at this moment, when he looked into Spike's eyes and thought how doting he was on Jave, he couldn't help wondering, _hoping_ , if his 'love' would be returned.

"Oooi, earth to the pair of lovebirds over there. Keep the PDA to a minimum and let's go home already! I'm starving!"

Dellons' aggravating, teasing voice broke the moment between Spike and Jave, fetching Jave out of his train of thought with a mortified gasp for being addressed by such embarrassing remark. "Shut up! You— _ass_!" He turned to lunge at Dellons who already foresaw the imminent violence and ran while laughing.

Rudy just chuckled again shaking his head and Spike let out a sigh with a tiny smile on his face.

**End of Round 4**

**Tbc…**

* * *

**Additional Notes:** _source Wikipedia_

 **1)** _ **Shitake**_ : ( _ **Lentinula edodes**_ ) is an edible mushroom native to East Asia, which is cultivated and consumed in many Asian countries. It is considered a medicinal mushroom in some forms of traditional medicine

 _ **Matsutake**_ : Chinese & Japanese pine mushroom, _Tricholoma matsutake_ = syn. _T. nauseosum_ ) common name for a highly sought-after mycorrhizal mushroom that grows in Asia, Europe, and North America. It is prized in Japanese, Korean, and Chinese cuisine for its distinct spicy-aromatic odor.

 _ **Enokitake**_ : a long, thin white mushroom used in East Asian cuisine (such as that of China, Japan, Vietnam and Korea). These mushrooms are cultivars of _Flammulina velutipes_ , also known by the name **golden needle mushroom** or **lily mushroom**. Wild forms differing in color, texture, and sliminess are called names including **seafood mushrooms** , **winter mushrooms** or **winter fungus** , **velvet foot** , **velvet stem** or **velvet shank**. This mushroom is available fresh or canned, with experts recommending fresh enoki specimens with firm, white, shiny caps, rather than those with slimy or brownish stalks that are best avoided. It is traditionally used for soups, but can also be used for salads and other dishes. The mushroom has a crisp texture and can be refrigerated for approximately one week

 **2)** _ **Sukiyaki**_ : a Japanese dish that is prepared and served in the _nabemono_ (Japanese hot pot) style. It consists of meat (usually thinly sliced beef) which is slowly cooked or simmered at the table, alongside vegetables and other ingredients, in a shallow iron pot in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, and _mirin_. The ingredients are usually dipped in a small bowl of raw, beaten eggs after being cooked in the pot, and then eaten.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hola, guys~ heheh, as per someone's request, there's a Spike/Jave moment at the end of this round *grins* I can't help making their history a bit of bittersweet *still grinning* They're just so cute! *love* And… Red, yeah, hasn't come up yet, but he will… soon… So, review?
> 
> **Teaser:**
> 
> "Hey, is that Kris?" Rudy looked worried as he spotted their friend walking together with some people that they didn't know in the distance.
> 
> "Huh… wait, who are those people?" Jave also looked concerned, because Kris' expression didn't look amused.
> 
> Rachel and Eileen looked quite alarmed when they recognized those guys despite the suspicious suits and sunglasses, as if they were trying to disguise themselves. "They're the Four Lords…"
> 
> "What is he doing with them?" Eileen was visibly pale now.
> 
> A vein popped up on Dellons' head. "Hoo… that bastard Lu Bu didn't heed my warning, huh?" He was apparently irate enough to crack his knuckles, ready to punch some people.
> 
> Spike observed further and spoke when he noted that one of the guy, the slender man with bluish-silver hair put his hand on Kris' lower back and guided him to get into a limousine, and Kris let him. "Well, Kris doesn't seem to be unwilling either. He'd run if he really didn't want to be there."


	6. Round 5: Deeper, Wider, All Angles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eileen and Rachels talk. Kris finds something. Red is here! Rudy does something... Jave and Spike are... and Dellons is an ass like usual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ack! No time for babbling this time, so here's round 5! FIGHT!  
>  **Disclaimer and Warning: _See prologue…_**

**A Gift from A Far Away World—a Seven Knights Fan fiction**

© lunaryu

**Round 5:** _**Deeper, Wider, All Angles** _

* * *

Rachel was working on her biochemistry project when Eileen barged into her lab. Well, the campus lab precisely, but it was kind of an unspoken agreement that at this hour, meaning _over time_ (because she was the professor's assistant and had the key), the lab was hers to utilize as she pleased.

"Eileen, please, you're going to cause an accident in my lab one of these days if you keep barging in without notice like this. What if I put something _contagious_ at the counter near the preparation room door?" Rachel straightened her back, away from the microscope and the chemical-molecular reaction that she was observing on the deck glass under it.

"Ah, sorry… but I did call you two hours ago, you know. You just ignored the call like usual. I even left a message to give you a notice that I was coming today," Eileen complained, dropped her bag inside an unoccupied locker, removed her outdoor shoes, changed into laboratory sandals and put on a lab coat before she stepped into the sterile area of the lab.

"Huh, I see you learned your lesson in minimizing contamination to my _babies_ ," Rachel smirked at the strawberry blond woman for finally memorizing the rule of entering the sterile environment.

Eileen scowled at her. "How many times do you think I have done this? Of course I did. Anyway, why do you call those germs your babies? That's pretty disturbing," she looked rather pale as she stared at some glass tubes with colorful liquid inside, near Rachel's arm on the counter she sat at.

"Rude. Don't call them germs. Some of them are very useful microorganisms. They're artificially engineered to develop vaccines and medicines, and some even can be applied in food products to enhance their taste or nutrient," Rachel pouted at Eileen for being mean to her subjects and objects of experimentation.

"I'm more afraid that you're developing biological weapon with the way you keep increasing their cultures and variation," Eileen deadpanned as she looked behind Rachel, where a large peculiar refrigerator with various plates and tubes were visibly stored, tagged and labelled, arranged in alphabet according to the species name and their level of hazard.

"Oh? That's a nice idea, Eileen. I'll keep that in mind. Who knows if something _like that_ will be necessary in the future, right?" Rachel smiled at her with fake politeness since Eileen had so little faith in Rachel's moral. She would make Eileen be the one responsible of the idea itself _if_ Rachel indeed had to create biological weapon someday.

"Don't say something so scary like that! It was just a joke!" Eileen seemed alarmed at the idea and Rachel had to chuckle seeing how panicked she looked at that moment. Noticing Rachel's amusement, she huffed and glared at her while she sat at the chair beside her. "Seriously, I never know when you're joking. Your false courtesy always makes Goosebumps appear on my body," she nitpicked some more as she rested her cheek on her palm, leaning her body against the counter top.

"Well, it's your own fault for not taking my own jest well." Rachel answered with a smirk and Eileen pouted at her. After that, she was quiet and Rachel was back in observing her experiment.

"Hey, Rachel," Eileen called again after five minutes of comfortable silence.

"Hmm?" Rachel acknowledged her, but she didn't release her eyes from the ocular lenses of the microscope.

"I'm a bit worried about Kris," Eileen said, sounding worried indeed. Rachel sighed slowly before she straightened her back once again, putting off the observation for a moment, as she turned to give Eileen her full attention.

"What is it that you're worried about? If it's about his hopeless crush on Rudy and his complicated cat and mouse game with Dellons, we all already decided not to interfere with it, right? It's their private business, and unless Rudy does something about it, nothing we do will help them," Rachel raised one of her eyebrows, as sensible and logical as usual.

Well, personally, Rachel thought Kris was close to her in that character, but when it involved Rudy, somehow, Kris could become… unfeasible. She also couldn't really comprehend why Kris responded to Dellons' provocation every single time. If he really hated it, he should just ignored him.

"Well, that too, but putting that aside for now, I'm more worried about Kris doing something _illegal_ again behind our back," Eileen sighed deeply.

" _Again_?" Rachel raised both her eyebrows, wondering why Eileen said 'again'. Did Kris ever do something behind their back?

"You know, the crisis of Rudy being expelled because of the stolen examination sheets? The one where the real perpetrators were suspended and had to repeat a year because their lack of attendance record?" Eileen reminded her and Rachel instantly recalled the incident in their high school.

"Ah… that. They were arrested as well for stealing from inconvenience store near Terra High, but immediately freed with noted criminal record and warning, since they were still minors. Also, Dellons beat them up to a pulp sent them to hospital, right?" Rachel confirmed.

"Yes, it was the 'lack of attendance record' part. Kris did that. He hacked into the school computer system and changed their record so they had to repeat a year," Eileen stated seriously.

"Again with your allegation, you never proved that theory," Rachel frowned. It was true that Kris was likely the culprit, since he had motive, means and opportunity, but the person himself didn't admit it. Well, he didn't exactly deny it either though, and left them all to draw their own conclusion.

Honestly, Rachel was also quite sure that Kris did it. It didn't mean Kris was a bad person. Those thieves deserved the retribution hundred times over for endangering Rudy's future anyway. Such people didn't deserve pity. If Rachel had a hand in it, she would make them suffer more than that.

"Yeah, but… Kris did it again."

"What?" Rachel widened her eyes, quite surprised hearing that.

"And this time, he did it in front of me, using my laptop," Eileen huffed.

" _What_?" Well, that was more surprising than the last.

"He hacked into our campus computer system to access some information about some students," Eileen explained further.

"… only to access information, and not to change anything, right?" Rachel didn't realize that she had held her breath, quite tense as she waited for more explanation.

Really, Kris could be so audacious, doing something illicit like that in front of Eileen of all people. He should have realized that Eileen couldn't stand foul play. Even though it was Kris' doing, for whatever reason, if she had proof that Kris did it, she would report him to abide to law and justice that she believed in.

"Yeah, just accessing information," Eileen nodded surely. Rachel let out a relieved sigh.

"So it wasn't that serious. You're not going to turn him in for just that, right? His fans will resent you if you do," Rachel warned.

"Of course not, I'm not that stupid." Eileen retorted huffily. "It wasn't anything too bad anyway. Besides, the students whose files were accessed by Kris apparently are _not_ regular students," she continued, looking concerned while sounding speculative.

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked, curious then.

"Some lines on their files were blackened out," Eileen said.

"Blackened out?" Rachel was confused. People with blackened out file couldn't be ordinary people. Either they worked for government as government agents, had criminal records that were sealed for some reason, or were special people like nobles and Royalties.

"They are all foreign exchanged students who have been here since the start of this semester. Lu Bu and Son Goku from China, Ryuujou Rin and Mikazuki Ace from Japan. Apparently, they are dubbed as The Four Lords in this campus since they're here with their outstanding martial arts scholarship," Eileen explained thoughtfully.

"The Four Lords…" Rachel mumbled their nickname and frowned more deeply. "Why would Kris check on their file?" It was suspicious. Kris was rarely interested in people. If he looked them up, then those guys might have done something to alert Kris' guard.

_Or is it because of their nickname? Four Lords… sound like Royalties, indeed._

"I don't know. But he muttered something about needing to know them personally if he wanted to know their real intention," Eileen bit her lower lip. "I'm worried if Kris will do something risky, like trying to get close to them."

"…Isn't that normal? I mean, if you want to know someone, won't you usually try to get close to them?" Rachel tilted her head aside, rather puzzled since Eileen was worried about something weird.

"Rachel, he's _Kris_. What do you think will happen if Rudy and Dellons see him getting buddy-buddy with _those kind of people_?" Eileen asked, sounding very meaningful, with beads of sweats rolling down her cheeks.

Rachel blinked once, _twice_ , thought about the outcome of the idea and could see nothing but disaster in the end. "Ah… I understand what you mean." Yes, she did. It was worrying _for Kris_ indeed. If a mother-hen like Rudy and a possessive bastard like Dellons saw Kris getting friendly with people with background like the Four Lords in their campus for no reason…

Rachel couldn't help her sweat dropping. "Shouldn't we alert them first before they see it for real? At least there is a less chance that it will end in bloodbath…"

"Couldn't agree more," Eileen nodded in total support.

* * *

**~A Seven Knight Fan Fiction~**

* * *

Kris was down in the basement once again.

Yes, he still hadn't had any luck finding his note, so he started searching once again from the basement, where he conducted the experiment. Kris couldn't understand why he didn't have any body-memory of when he had been experimenting. Although, sleep deprivation and too much caffeine could alter brain chemistry in a way, but such important information shouldn't have been wiped out clean from his head.

There might be other explanation, like _black magic_ , for example. But, in _this world_ … there was no such thing as magic as in real magic like in Kris' original universe. Magic in this world consisted of tricks and misdirection, a show of entertainment by guiding people's line of sight to make them see wonder. Other plausible explanation should be something _psychological_. During the experiment, if there was something _really bad_ happening, _this world_ Kris might have to forget it as a mean of self-protection. But what kind of thing was bad enough for his counterpart to force himself to resort to something extreme like psychological shock-induced amnesia?

_Unless… it's not psychological at all, but physical shock-induced amnesia?_ —Kris wondered if he had bumped his head somewhere, hard enough to cause concussion and to force his memory out of his head. There was no swelling on his head or other concussion symptom, though. Or he might have been electrocuted? But, he had no burn mark everywhere in his body, so it was pretty unlikely.

Kris sighed deeply as he sat tiredly at the unused sofa near the unused dresser in the middle of the basement. "I won't be surprised if there's another basement around which its existence I've forgotten." He muttered half-jokingly then, chuckling a bit at how ridiculous it sounded.

After resting for five more minutes, Kris stood and moved over behind the sofa. He looked at the dresser and the drawers. He had opened them all, but there were only old papers, broken cups and plates, unused spoons and forks, and a lot more old knick-knacks which probably belonged to the landlord. The dresser itself, although looking _ancient_ , was actually quite sturdy. It was made of woods, in dark red color. There were some scars… which actually looked more like _carving_ on each of the drawer, because the scratches were even and soft to the touch.

_This is…_

Kris decided to pull out all the drawers and then tried to rearrange the order by following the carving-like scratches on their surface. Gradually, by putting those drawers in the slots according to the designated scratches, some of the already rearranged drawers showed Kris some kind of specific design. As Kris finally put the final drawer in the last empty slot, it was clear to him what kind of image being carved there.

It was a… dragon, precisely, _the gate keeper_. Kris recognize the species in the picture. It looked a lot like _Baron_ , the Gate Keeper of Purgatory in Revengers Hell.

"Why are _you_ here?" Kris was seriously befuddled by this. There was supposed to be no dragon or monster like _it_ in this world. Then, why did its picture show up in this place? So close, inside _their_ home… did it have anything to do with the incident of his body switching and dimensional transferring?

Kris frowned deeply as he touched the outline carving of the dragon. Like this, it looked kind of… the image seemed more prominent than the background. _Is it possible…?_

When Kris pressed on the image harder, he felt something _give_ , and then heard a clicking sound from inside the dresser, immediately followed by a whirring sound. Kris pulled his hand and stepped back from the dresser in alert as it started to shake.

_Some kind of hidden mechanism was installed in this dresser, huh?_ —Kris observed carefully as the whirring sound continued for a few seconds before a loud clank was heard from the topside of the dresser and it move slowly frontward, creating space between it and the wooden frame.

"A secret compartment, huh?" Kris waited until it stopped moving completely and inspected more closely to take a peek from the gap. Since it was quite dark, Kris took out his cell phone and lit up the _torch_ to give some light on the inside. He saw a stack of papers there on the right side, along with a square briefcase in platinum color in size of a 14 inches notebook beside it. "Found it." He smirked as he saw _his_ handwriting on the papers, although it was a bit hard to read the writing from there.

Kris put out the light from his torch-program and kept his cell phone back inside his pocket. He grabbed the edge of the frame and the topside dresser with both hands and stared to pull them apart more widely. It was quite heavy and Kris had to put a lot of his muscles power in his struggle, but he managed to widen it up a few inches more.

Deeming it large enough gap, Kris retrieved the briefcase first before getting the paper out in parts since the stack was quit high. He put them all down on the unused sofa and then stared at the briefcase for a moment before moving his gaze to the pile of papers. There was still no memory that flashed in his mind or that he could retrieve after _just_ seeing them. Kris sighed and decided to read the paper first before carelessly opening the briefcase. Who knew what was inside it, right? Despite this world Kris himself constructing the device, without any memory on how to operate it, it would be useless in his hand.

Kris picked up a paper on the top pile and started to read from the tittle. He blinked when he caught some phrases that interested him immediately on the subject.

_This is…!_

* * *

**~A Seven Knights Fan Fiction~**

* * *

"Ah, Red! Come back here!" Jave ran after his suddenly flying _dragon_ (what? It was a _Flying Dragon_ lizard, so Jave had always regarded his _brother_ a dragon from the start, no matter what other people said about it) as soon as he brought Red out of his room, intending to feed him outside.

Well, Jave could understand Red's impatience. The little guy had been cooped up inside Jave's room for some weeks now, because Jave hadn't had time to let it play outside due to him being busy with homework and extra works to earn him extra credits from his professor.

Of course Jave still took responsibility to feed Red. He even played with Red inside his room when he got stressed out working on his project. He actually wanted some of his friends to regularly play with Red outside when he wasn't able to do it himself, but none of them seemed to be free these past weeks since they all had their own projects and homework. Jave couldn't possibly impose on them.

Besides, even though Jave was fine entrusting Red's well-being in Spike or Rudy's hands, he didn't really trust Dellons or Kris to be responsible with him. Dellons was obvious, because he was an ass, and Jave couldn't think that Dellons would be willing to help him. Kris was… _well_ , he already had hard time building relationship with _people_ around him with his indifferent attitude sometimes. Jave couldn't think he could bother with _animal_ at this point. Besides, as long as Jave knew him, he had never seen Kris being friendly with _any_ animal at all, not even a cat.

As for Eileen and Rachel… Eileen was too rough sometimes. When she handled small fragile things, they tended to break a lot. Jave didn't dare to leave Red with her. Rachel was always gentle and proper, but she didn't seem too used to handling animals all that well. Her relationship with animals was that of a scientist with her guinea pigs. When she had interest in an animal, it was usually followed with a desire to _open them up_ for studies. Jave didn't want her to have any _interest_ in his Red at all.

Therefore, it couldn't be helped that Jave had to keep Red inside his large cage in his room for a longer period of time than usual. His brother must have been dying to fly outside. He was a _Flying Dragon_ lizard; his species spent 1/3 of its day flying, of course Red desired to fly freely to the sky. Though, it still surprised Jave so much when Red just took off from his shoulder as soon as he opened his room door.

Now, Red flew around the crystal lamp on the ceiling, showing off his bright blue, spread out wings, before he dove down to the first floor. "Uh-oh! Wait! Red!" Jave immediately ran to the stairs, going down to after his sibling.

When Jave spotted Red again, he was flying on the center of the living room. He landed on the sofa and walked on its backrest for a moment before he took off again going to the opened door to the hall way. "Ah! Don't just fly again immediately after you see me! Red!" Jave huffed, annoyed that his brother was playing with him without his consent. He knew Red was just being playful and probably wanted to play with him outside immediately, but Jave wouldn't open the front door for him if Red didn't stop running away from him like this.

Jave followed Red's flying path from bellow. He flew to the direction of the door to the basement. It was slightly open and Red was probably seeing it as an opportunity to escape Jave's attention. Of course Jave immediately knew his aim. He had raised Red since he was still inside the egg. There was a bond between Jave and Red and Jave could always understand what Red's intention was despite Red not speaking human language.

"Oh, no you don't," Jave speeded up his steps, intending to close the door before Red could slip from the gap between the frame and the door, but someone beat him to it.

Kris showed up from behind the basement door before he got out and closed it. He looked upward when Jave yelled out a warning, "Look out!"

"What?" Kris jerked in surprise, but he didn't seem to see what he should look out for when suddenly Red landed on his left shoulder, slapping Kris' face with his left wing, and "Ouch!" Kris yelped in shock and pain at some point.

"Kris! Red!" Jave shouted, worried that both Kris and Red got injured. He jogged faster to Kris and was slightly bewildered of why Kris didn't shove Red away immediately. He seemed to freeze on spot instead. When Jave got to Kris, he immediately reached to hold Red on its stomach, bellow its wing to remove him from Kris shoulder and face. "Kris! I'm so sorry, are you alright? Bad Red! Bad Red!" he couldn't help scolding his sibling in one of his arms while fussing over Kris who was still stiff, possibly petrified, with his other hand.

"Ah, I'm fine. I was just surprised," Kris finally responded to him with a slight wince when he tried to smile. Jave saw the cause of his wince immediately after he got a good look on Kris' face.

"Oh my God! You're bleeding!" Jave paled as he saw the blood trickle from Kris' right side lower lip down his chin.

"Ah? Oh," Kris swept some of the blood with his index finger, looking at it while shrugging nonchalantly. "Must be from when Red's wing slapped my face earlier. The side of his wings are quite sharp, huh?"

"Aaah, I'm very, _very_ sorry! Red was just excited to be out since forever. I didn't think he's be _that_ agitated," Jave stroked Red head and moved him from his arm to his shoulder once again before he closed in on Kris to look more closely at his wound. "Here, let me see it."

"It's alright, Jave. It's just a light scratch," Kris put his palm on Jave's hand, seeming to hold it back from touching his face directly.

"Yeah, but it's a scratch from a _dragon_. At least it should be cleaned," Jave insisted and Kris snorted a bit at the 'dragon' part, but he flinched again because it was apparently painful for him to stretch his lips in anything resembling a smile. "See? Let's go to the living room and let me clean and treat it," Jave grabbed Kris' wrist and pulled him to walk together with him.

"Alright then," Kris let out a sigh, sounding and looking resign.

Red kept looking at Kris' face from Jave's shoulder, feeling bad for hurting him in the first place. Jave felt the same and it seemed that his worry didn't escape Kris because despite it being painful, he still smiled slightly and reached out his hand to pat Red's head in reassurance.

Well, Jave took back his earlier opinion. He'd be definitely glad to entrust Red in Kris' care the next time Jave was too busy to play with him.

Arriving at the living room, Jave instructed Kris to sit on the sofa while he fetched clean water from the kitchen. He came back with a bowl of water and a box of unopened tissue. He sat down beside Kris, opened the tissue box, took some sheets from the inside, wet them with water from the bowl and dabbed them slowly on the Kris' lower lip to clean the blood so he could see the wound better.

Like Kris said, it was just a scratch, but it was rather deep and the blood kept coming out from the wound after Jave dabbed it. Jave frowned, but Kris kept quiet as he dabbed the wound some more, to no avail. "It's quite deep. Maybe it needs some Albothyle to disinfect it thoroughly and to close the wound more quickly. I'll get it first." He said as he stood and hurried to the big bathroom to fetch the first aid kit.

Jave found the intended bottle immediately from the small medical kit, stored inside the cabinet on the wall at the bathroom sink. He took some cotton bath from a tube near it and immediately went back to Kris in the living room.

However, when Jave entered the living room once more, there was already someone else with Kris.

Rudy looked concerned when he approached Kris and widened his eyes when he saw the bleeding wound on Kris' lower lip. "What happened? Who did this?" Aside the obvious worry, there was _anger_ in his flashing amber eyes, as if he couldn't forgive whoever that had dared to hurt Kris and what he would do to make them pay.

Jave could instinctively imagine what kind of punishment would be subjected to his precious Red that he felt slightly afraid to notify them that he was _there_.

"It's alright, Rudy. It's just a scratch," Kris repeated his words that he gave Jave earlier to Rudy now in a softer tone, but it didn't seem to appease Rudy's apprehension at all.

"It's still bleeding. Let me see," Rudy sat down beside Kris and touched Kris cheek, leaning more closely into Kris and Jave could see the subtle shiver that ran down Kris' body at the small contact.

Somehow, it made Jave's heart beat faster as well seeing their close proximity. This mood was a bit… how do you explain it? A bit too intimate? He felt like if he made any noise now, he would be intruding!

"N-no, it's okay, really." Kris stuttered a bit, looking slightly flustered as Rudy kept leaning closely into him. "Something like this… It's going to heal in no time if I just lick—!?"

Kris widened his eyes in a jolt just like Jave was when Rudy suddenly closed the small gap between them and licked at Kris' lower lip, right on his wound, cleaning the blood there.

Jave dropped the bottle and the cotton bath (along with his jaw) to the floor in his shock, still unable to release his eyes from the astounding view. _Holy crap! Rudy is…?!_ —even Jave's mind couldn't exactly follow this turn of event quickly enough. He was still gaping from his spot at the doorway as Rudy pulled back in surprise, probably hearing the sound of the dropped items.

"Jave?" Rudy tilted his head aside, not seeming to think that he had done something embarrassing as he moved his gaze from Jave to the bottle and the cotton bath on the ground. "Oh, you brought some meds for Kris?" He smiled in approval and Jave was still unable to find his voice to address his absurd calmness after doing something like that to _Kris_ of all people!

Jave shifted his eyes from Rudy onto Kris who was obviously trembling, while his index and middle fingers were shakily touching his lower lip, possibly feeling up the place that Rudy had licked earlier. His face was beet red and got redder as the seconds ticked by and Jave felt much, and he meant _so much_ pity toward his friend's obvious raging turbulent emotions right then.

"Kris…" Jave called his friend tentatively and Kris jerked in shock as he turned to look at him, red eyes widening impossibly large before he immediately looked away from Jave, face getting steamy, as he clenched his right fist and then punched Rudy in the face.

"Ow! What?" Rudy went down from the sofa to the floor with a loud thud, looking thrown for getting assaulted so suddenly by Kris.

Kris just gritted his teeth without looking at Rudy or Jave. "You're an idiot!" He exclaimed loudly before he stood and ran away from them.

"W-what…?" Rudy sounded more bemused than ever now, staring at Kris' retreating back like a lost child.

Jave let out a deep exasperated sigh as he crouched on the floor to retrieve the fallen bottle of Albothyl and the cotton bath. "Ah, _sheesh_ … Rudy, you're really…! What the hell did you think you were doing just now?" Jave glared at Rudy, feeling very annoyed too for Kris' behalf. Because, seriously! Rudy was practically kissing Kris earlier! But he didn't seem to think much about it! It was making everyone (him) crazy!

"Eeh?" Now Rudy directed his confused look to Jave. "I was… cleaning his wound?" Jave didn't know why Rudy sounded unsure at the end, but he looked so damn perplexedly innocent that in reverse it just pissed Jave off so much more for his ignorance and obliviousness.

"Are you seriously saying that?! Where in the world does anyone clean a wound _that way_?! Are you making fun of me?!" Jave yelled at him then, very irritated.

"Huh? Bu-but I'm serious. I did that to Dellons as well before," Rudy said, scratching his cheek slowly, still looking nonplussed.

"… _Pardon?_ " Jave couldn't help deadpanning with his left eye twitching when he heard that, almost falling down comically on the floor as well in his astonishment.

"You see, I read it in a book I found in the orphanage library when I was a child that human saliva has disinfectant characteristic at some point. I just remembered about it the other day, when Dellons made dinner, I helped him, right? He cut his finger when he prepared the garlic as seasoning, so I licked the cut on his forefinger to disinfect it before putting a band aid on it." Rudy explained in quite detail then, putting his forefinger and thumb on his chin, seemingly thoughtful. "Well, for some reason he froze and was petrified during the process, though… I wonder why that was…"

Seeing such genuine curiosity in Rudy's expression, Jave couldn't help face palming, sighing in resignation and surrender because that legendary obliviousness was unbeatable. God, it was frustrating to the core!

"You… Rudy, you're too freaking _dense_!" Jave finally exploded, surprising both Rudy and Red that was still on Jave's shoulder at the time. He instantly took off to land on the armrest of the sofa as Jave throttled (or actually, just yanked Rudy's collar) and shook him. "Aaaaargh! I can't take it anymore! That's it! Today is the day for you to understand what you're doing to everyone in this house!"

"W-what? What's going on?! Ah! Jave, stop shaking me! My brain is going to get shaken up as well!" Rudy protested in bewilderment, but Jave didn't stop his _punishment_ for Rudy for being too thick and ignorant all the time for a few more extra seconds to get his frustration across. It was seriously grating Jave's nerves. He would make Rudy realize no matter what.

"You… you never thought much when you did something _like this_ to the people around you, right? How do you feel if it's done to you then?!" Jave asked, staring at Rudy's eyes with a no nonsense glare.

"Huh? What do you mean? What did I do?" Rudy looked extremely baffled then and Jave felt that he had to give example of what Rudy had done to Kris and Dellons, so he would understand how they felt.

"Fine, I'll do it. This is an example, so think carefully of how you feel when I do it," Jave let go of Rudy's shirt collar and pulled back slightly before he turned Red. "Red, do it." He ordered.

"Huh?" Rudy seemed alarmed when Red suddenly took off and landed on his left shoulder. "What the—ah!" and then he yelped in pain as Red unexpectedly bit his left forefinger. "Wh-wha-what-what?!" Rudy looked very much flabbergasted as Red took off once again to land on the table, observing Rudy with his small black-reddish eyes. "Wh-why did he bite me?" Rudy cradled his hand protectively while eyeing Red and then Jave with cautious eyes.

"Hn. You deserve that." Jave huffed in satisfaction seeing Rudy in slight pain. Rudy sent him a wounded look and Jave sighed once again. "Give me your hand." He opened his palm to Rudy then.

Rudy frowned at him, his expression showing utter misgiving. "Exactly what are you trying to do?" he asked, tentatively showing Jave his bleeding finger.

"I told you I'd make you realize what you did to other people," Jave said as he grasped on Rudy's wrist firmly. "Feel and think about it carefully," he said in warning, before he leaned in and put Rudy's forefinger inside his own mouth while closing his eyes.

**#**

Rudy widened his eyes in total stupefaction as Jave leaned down and then closed his mouth around his wounded forefinger. He felt the intense warmth surround the pad of his finger, something soft and wet sweep on it repeatedly, cleaning his wound, and there was this sudden unfamiliar tickling feeling that made Rudy's body shudder for some reason.

Rudy's face heated up and his heartbeat suddenly picked up pace and he felt… he felt extreme embarrassment when Jave opened his golden eyes and gazed straightly into his own amber ones. "Ah…!"

Then there was a sudden crashing sound from their side and Jave pulled back immediately. Rudy couldn't be bothered to find out what that crashing sound was as Jave's face paled slightly before he hurried to release Rudy's hand, stand and scram away, shouting "Wait! Spike! It's not what you think it is!"

Rudy was still staring at his wet forefinger in a trance as he vaguely heard the fading running steps away from the living room. He didn't know why he felt this _shocked_ from what Jave had done. It was a thing that Rudy always did to his friends as well, right?

_Right?_

But somehow, now that he was at the receiving end of the deed, he felt that… it was very… too _intimate_. This kind of thing… shouldn't have been done to people that were _just friends_.

Rudy's face heated up some more. He could even feel the steam start to rise from his head and ears as he covered his mouth in dawning realization that he had subjected Kris (and Dellons, along with many other people) to this kind of feeling periodically. God, he didn't think… He didn't know that it would feel so embarrassing for the one in the receiving end.

Worse, Rudy remembered that he had licked Kris' lower lip… on _his freaking lips_ , for God's sake! Rudy couldn't help feeling horrified by it and covered his face with both palms then, feeling extra self-conscious as he imagined how Kris felt when he did that. If it were the other way around, Rudy would have died from mortification right then.

"I've done something bad to Kris (and Dellons the other day)…" Rudy mumbled, still flushing so hard it was difficult not to whimper in shame for his indecent behavior. "I have to apologize to them later…" He decided, but he took time to calm himself down a bit more, before he stood up slowly, turning to face Red that was still on the table, watching Rudy with tilted head, as if he was asking if Rudy was okay.

When Rudy stared at Red's black-reddish eyes, he remembered Jave's serious face—

" _I'd make you realize what you did to other people…"_

Rudy couldn't help chuckling sheepishly at that. "Thanks, Jave." He mumbled lowly, still blushing a bit because he needed something extreme to be done to him by his friend to make him _get it_. It was embarrassing after realizing that he was so oblivious about things like this.

"I'll play with you now, Red, until your master come back," Rudy smiled at Red and offered his arm to the _Draco_. Red seemed to shrug at it by tilting his head to the other side before he run and jumped to fly from the table to land on Rudy's arm gracefully. "Good boy, just like your master," Rudy grinned and pat Red's head fondly.

* * *

**~A Seven Knights Fan Fiction~**

* * *

"Wait, Spike! Please wait!"

Spike knew that Jave was running after him. He knew, but he didn't want to stop. He didn't want to get caught. He didn't want to hear any explanation at this moment.

Spike wanted to destroy something. The fury he felt right then was so strong, _too strong_. He couldn't be around _people_ when he felt like this, especially _not Jave_.

"Spike!"

Jave's voice was getting louder, his footsteps getting faster. He was speeding up, but Spike's strides were longer, so he hurried up as well, not letting the distance between the purple haired man and him get narrower.

"Spike! Seriously, wait for a moment, please!" Jave's voice sounded frantic, his breath was fast and labored. "Please… don't leave me again!"

As Spike heard the loud, desperate plea, his body froze on the spot and that second of pause was all it took for Jave to catch up to him and catch him in a hug from behind. He was panting heavily against Spike's back and Spike had to clench his fists not to make any contact with Jave, anywhere. He couldn't risk hurting him. He couldn't afford to do that. The scorching fury was still raging inside his body, begging for release and Spike didn't want Jave to be the outlet of that fury.

In his desperation to take the edge off of his dangerously violent temper, Spike whammed the wall beside him really hard with the right side of his fist. He could feel Jave cringe in reaction to that, but he didn't loosen his hold on Spike sides and stomach. Jave even clenched the material of his clothes more tightly in his grasp.

Spike could feel the _violence_ subside bit by bit from his mind and body, finding the release from that one hard pound to the wall. The right side of his right hand throbbed slightly, though and he was also breathing hard, trying to calm himself from the aftermath as the fury left his body and mind completely, leaving him exhausted.

"Sorry, I'm sorry… please let me explain," Jave talked again after a few more minutes of quiet panting. They hadn't changed their position then. He was still hugging Spike from behind.

"You shouldn't have gone after me… What if I couldn't hold back my temper and hurt you?" Spike started to speak, feeling extremely weary after trying his hardest to hold down his violent tendency.

Spike had anger issue. He had gone to a psychiatrist for therapy and gotten some meds to control his mood, but sometimes… just sometimes, there was _trigger_ that could make the urge to destroy so unbearable that all those therapy sessions and his mood stabilizer instantly went to drain. At those times, he would hit whatever thing or person around him without him realizing it. In order to prevent him beating anyone in his house in his moment of insanity, Spike chose to _run_ whenever the urge was triggered.

This time, the trigger of that urge was _that scene_ : Jave kneeling in front of Rudy, his delicate hand on Rudy's wrist, his lips around Rudy's forefinger. The intimacy of that act made Spike's blood boil. He hadn't realized the urge was triggered before he felt the glass in his palm shatter because he held it too tightly.

When Spike saw his hand and those shards of glass fall down, he immediately bolted away from there. He didn't want to hurt Jave or Rudy. He couldn't be there with them. But then Jave had to chase him. Jave was an idiot sometimes.

"I'm not going to let you go no matter what," Jave said, his voice a bit muffled since his mouth was against Spike clothed back. "Not again… never again…!" If it was possible, Spike felt that Jave's hold on him was getting firmer.

Spike could feel the warmth from Jave's body, so close… there was no gap between his back and Jave's chest and face. Spike had to soften his expression when he saw Jave's hands clench on the belly part of his clothes. His hand shook slightly for how tight Jave held onto them. Spike let go of his fist from the wall slowly before he brought his _bleeding_ palm on top of Jave's hand.

"Spike?" Jave addressed him a moment latter, seeming to feel his sticky touch.

"You silly, silly Jave. Where am I going to go? My home is here, you know," Spike held Jave's fisted hand gently, trying to reassure him that he was okay now, that he wasn't about to succumb into that violent madness that sometimes clouded his mind and body.

"Yes," Jave sighed slowly, finally loosening his hold on Spike. "Yes…" He sounded relieved and happy before Spike could feel Jave's mouth once again on his back, seeming to give him a kiss of gratitude that Spike was still there with him.

A few more seconds later, Jave finally let go of Spike and Spike turned around to face him properly. "I'm sorry about just now… that you had to see that," Jave sighed, looking tired as he scratched his head.

Jave still wanted to explain what happened earlier apparently and although Spike didn't really needed explanation because he trusted Jave completely that it was a necessary thing (when his urge wasn't triggered), he decided to indulge Jave if only it would give the golden eyed man a peace of mind.

"Rudy was being an oblivious idiot again, earlier. He licked Kris' lower lip, can you believe that?" Then Jave started to rant. "He said he only wanted to clean Kris' wound… ah, Kris' lower lip was bleeding because Red got too excited earlier and bumped into Kris' face when he flied. Anyway, Rudy licked Kris' lower lip without noticing Kris' feelings for him and how embarrassing that was. Kris already punched Rudy, but it got me mad as well because how come he's so ignorant like that?! I feel so sorry for Kris… That's why I got angry with Rudy and I felt the urge to teach him a lesson a bit, so I… I mimicked what he did to Dellons the other day…"

"Wait, to Dellons?" Spike raised his eyebrows at that, a bit confused. Why did Dellons' name come up here?

"Yeah, apparently Rudy did lick Dellons' forefinger as well as a mean to clean a cut he made when he was cooking dinner the other day," Jave elaborated with an arid tone and expression, and Spike snorted at that fact, slightly surprised and entertained, since he really wanted to see Dellons' face when Rudy did that to him.

"The legendary obliviousness is unbeatable, huh?" Spike shook his head, trying to hold down his amusement.

"Well, it got on my nerves!" Jave huffed. "So I ordered Red to bite Rudy's finger and then I licked his wound, so he would understand how it felt for Kris and Dellons when he did that to them as well…" Now Jave pouted for some reason. "I didn't mean for you to see that… I don't want you to misunderstand my intention…"

Spike caught Jave's gaze that seemed a bit guilt-ridden then. "You explain it to me properly," Spike comforted, ruffling Jave's soft hair with his uninjured palm.

"But now I'm self-reflecting. No matter how angry I was, I shouldn't have done that to Rudy. Such action isn't meant to be done carelessly to anyone that isn't special. I gave him an example of his own doing, but by doing that, I did the same thing to him what he did to Kris and Dellons. It's not right, and I'm sorry," Jave continued slowly and Spike smiled tenderly at him. Jave was such a good guy. Spike was proud of him when he acknowledged his own mistake and Jave looked like he wanted to make amend.

"You should apologize to Rudy later," Spike suggested, ruffling Jave's hair again fondly.

"Yes, but… I've done you wrong as well, Spike," Jave reached out to catch Spike's wrist and removed his hand from his hair. He looked upward at Spike solemnly.

"Eh?" Spike didn't comprehend what Jave was talking about.

"I hurt you didn't I? When you saw me do that to Rudy…" Jave held his hand with both of his own, squeezing his fingers and wrist gently. Spike widened his eyes a bit as he felt Jave's lips on the back of his palm then. Jave hadn't released his gaze from Spike's even though the glimmer in Jave's golden eyes looked different than the regret he showed him earlier.

"Jave…?" Spike was a bit mystified with the way Jave was staring at him.

"Spike, I'm satisfied with what we have right now, but I also realize that I have never said anything about my _feelings_ for you." Jave straightened his back and his expression was a determined one despite Spike being stunned seeing him like that and hearing what he said. "I'm neither ashamed nor afraid to acknowledge my feelings for you and it has potential to change how we act to each other in the future, so I want you to think carefully about it before answering it." He squeezed Spike's hand comfortingly then, seeming to plead for him to give Jave some form of response.

Spike nodded at him in silence and Jave smiled, continuing. "I don't want our relationship to be so muddled and complicated like what Kris, Rudy and Dellons shared, so I'll tell you right here, right now." Jave held Spike's hand more tightly before he took a deep breath and dropped the bomb. " _I love you_ , and it's a different kind of love that brothers and family share. I want to share special relationship with you, Spike, and only with you."

Spike widened his eyes so much more prominently as he saw the graveness of Jave's confession. He was serious. Jave loved him _like that_ and he wanted something special with him. How… how did Spike answer such feelings from him?

Spike cared a lot about Jave. His constant presence back then at middle school, when he needed someone to be around him most at his lowest, had saved Spike from self-destruction. Because Jave was willing to talk to him and stay by his side even though he always ignored and snubbed him, Spike could still feel _human_ despite his encounter with the truth of his birth. Of course Spike liked Jave a lot more right now after knowing him better, after sharing their high school and their living space. Of course he _loved_ Jave.

But… Jave's love for Spike was so pure, so gentle, so… _giving_.

Spike curled his fingers to grasp Jave's hand and then pulled Jave forward before pushing him and slamming his back on the wall behind him. Jave winced in surprise, but didn't say anything, and seemed to let Spike do anything he wanted. He looked kind of resigned when Spike lifted his other hand, and closed his eyes, apparently waiting for a punch or something, but Spike wasn't about to do that.

Spike reached to cup Jave's cheek instead, before diving down for a kiss on Jave's lips. Jave jerked in shock, opening his eyes widely, seemingly in disbelief, as Spike attacked his lips, once, twice, and he positioned his thumb and middle finger on Jave's jaw joints, pushing them to force the smaller guy to open his mouth for him, so he could slip his tongue inside, drawing a gasp and a startled moan from Jave.

Spike kept plundering Jave's mouth, licking into his soft, warm oral cavity, biting his lower lip, tasting and curling his tongue possessively around Jave's, and Jave couldn't seem to breathe properly as he gasped and groaned between kisses, his hand grappled desperately on Spike's chest while his other was still in firm hold of Spike's hand, getting pinned above his head on the wall. It was hot, so addicting. Spike couldn't get enough of Jave's sweetness.

At some point, Jave's desperation to suck in air made him push Spike away a bit, and his knees buckled that Spike had to let go of Jave's neck and face to secure a hold on Jave's waist, so as not to let the younger man fall down. Spike himself needed to breathe in more oxygen, so while he and Jave were panting heavily, he rested his forehead on Jave's, inhaling his alluring scent.

"Jave… my _feelings_ for you are so _violent_ ," Spike rasped while closing his eyes hugging Jave closely, tightly, so dearly. His voice was huskier than he thought it would be and Jave's body trembled as Spike whispered. "I want you… so bad. I've wanted to _devour_ you for so long that I'm afraid I'll hurt you if I ever have a chance to touch you."

Surprised? Maybe afraid? Spike didn't want to see it. If Jave knew what kind of thing he wanted from the younger, he surely would be repulsed. Spike didn't want to make Jave fear him, didn't want to lose his friendship and love. Spike had wanted to keep his true feelings inside and never let them be known by anyone, let alone by _Jave_ initially, because Jave was too dear for Spike to be subjected into this brutal love. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he hurt Jave because of his feelings.

But Jave loved him. He _loved_ Spike like that. Spike couldn't lie to Jave about his feelings when Jave was so serious when he confessed. He had to let it all out, offering them to Jave on silver platter and let Jave decide if he could handle Spike's feelings for him.

"Spike…!" Jave called his name and forced him to open his eyes and to look at Jave's teary golden ones. He smiled gently and this time, he was the one initiating the kiss on Spike's lips. "I'm glad… that we have mutual feelings for each other," he whispered softly into Spike's mouth before he pulled back slightly to look into his eyes.

"Jave…" Spike stared at Jave's golden eyes, enthralled by the soft glimmer inside, his kindness.

"So please, don't let me go… Hold me tight, make me yours and never leave me…" Jave grasped Spike's neck then and surged upward once again for another hot, demanding kiss.

_Ah, it's the same after all…—_ Spike thought, recognizing it pretty well as he lost himself in their deep, _hard_ kiss, drowning in that ferocious love. _Both of our loves are violent… greedy… want everything of each other…_

It was a possessive kind of love, an amorous love.

* * *

**~A Seven Knight Fan Fiction~**

* * *

At dinner table that night, three people were missing.

Rudy sighed deeply staring at those empty seats, slumping and not touching the food he himself had prepared on the table because he was in charge of breakfast and dinner today. Red was perched calmly on his shoulder, nuzzling Rudy's dark brown hair affectionately.

Dellons, Rachel and Eileen looked at Rudy and then at Red wordlessly, before they glanced at each other, as if they tried to figure out what had happened from one another, but nobody seemed to know anything, so they shrugged as they began to eat.

"Someone should call Spike and Jave. They'll miss dinner at this rate," Eileen quipped nonchalantly.

"Let's not. Jave seems _busy_." Rachel contradicted the suggestion before she sipped her juice from the glass. "He even leaves Red in Rudy's care. If he goes as far as not letting Red stay inside his room, that can only mean one thing. Jave can't afford to get distract even by Red's presence. Maybe his project this time is very important for him," she nodded, relaying all her thought about the matter with satisfaction.

Dellons snorted at that. "Or, he probably needs some alone time to _jerk off._ He won't want Red to see such lewd sight," he smirked as he munched on a spoon of delicious curry. Rudy was the best at making curry. He should make curry forever for him.

Eileen looked visibly queasy and Rachel scowled at the blond, muttering something about 'rude' and 'impolite thought'. Rudy didn't seem aware enough, though, so he neither reacted on Dellons' words nor contributed on the discussion. Seeing that, Dellons was thoughtful for a moment, trying to figure out why Rudy was in such a slump. He smirked as he found a way to rouse Rudy immediately like a magic word.

"What about _Kris_ , then? Do you think he's too busy to eat?"

As expected, Rudy jumped at the mention of Kris' name while Rachel and Eileen twitched slightly. Dellons sniggered inwardly while in appearance, he set a concerned expression for their friend's well-being. "Maybe I should call him." Dellons even made an attempt to stand up from the chair, but Rudy beat him to it.

"I'll do it!" the brunet said, his face surprisingly pink, before he frenziedly scrammed to look for Kris.

Dellons once again snorted watching Rudy's retreating figure. "He's as simple and as easy as always," he commented afterward.

"You're horrible," Eileen chided him.

"The worst," Rachel seconded her opinion.

"Thank you," Dellons smiled at them heartily and both women only sighed at him in exasperation.

**#**

Rudy felt a bit miserable. He hadn't gotten a chance to apologize to Kris since earlier. He had tried to knock on his door a few times, but unlike the usual when Kris told him _"Go away, Rudy,"_ he didn't even responded to his call and just ignored him completely.

"Kris," Rudy knocked at Kris' room door once again. "It's dinner. You should eat something. You haven't eaten since noon, right?"

There was still no answer from the inside. Apparently he had made Kris quite angry this time, enough to give him a silent treatment. He knew when Kris was really, _really_ upset, he tended to be quiet about it. "I'm really sorry about earlier. I didn't think carefully of what I was doing." Rudy tried to apologize even though Kris didn't want to talk to him. He could always listen to his voice. "Jave already thoroughly scolded me. I understand why you're angry. I did something embarrassing to you. I'm very sorry. It won't happen again, I promise."

The prolonged silence disheartened Rudy a bit, but he felt Red nuzzle his neck in encouragement, so he smiled slightly at that. He let out a resigned sigh and thumped his forehead on Kris' door. "Seems that you won't talk to me today. I'll put your dinner into a container and keep it in the fridge. If you feel like eating, you should warm it up before digging in. I'll talk to you again tomorrow."

Rudy left Kris' door and was about go back to the kitchen when he heard footsteps from the living room. He sneaked his head inside to look who was in there and found Jave and Spike walking toward the kitchen.

"Spike, Jave!" Rudy called and both jumped in surprise in reaction.

"Oh, R-Rudy, hey," Jave turned around slightly to wave at him. His smile was a bit awkward for some reason. Spike didn't even greet Rudy back, just glancing at him in a nod. Both seemed to act a bit strangely then. Rudy tilted his head aside in a wonder, but seeing Jave's slightly flushed face, Rudy remembered what happened in the living room earlier and he himself blushed slightly.

_Of course it'd be awkward, after something like that—_ Rudy smiled apologetically, scratching his cheek.

"I was wondering where you were since you weren't at dinner table," Rudy decided to overlook the uncomfortable atmosphere and jogged lightly to catch up to them as they resumed their walk to the kitchen.

"Oh, we were… ah! Red!" Jave exclaimed suddenly, apparently had just remembered that he left Red by himself after seeing him with Rudy. As if reacting to his call, Red took off from Rudy's shoulder to fly toward him. "Red!" Jave opened his arm to welcome Red into his embrace, nuzzling the Draco affectionately. "I'm so sorry for leaving you like that earlier." He looked like he was about to cry as he held his flying dragon tightly.

"Ah… you could choke him if you hold him too tightly…" Rudy reached his hand, about to touch Jave's arm so he would loosen his hold on the poor Draco slightly, but Spike's hand was on Rudy's so abruptly, surprising Rudy because Spike seemed to prevent him from touching Jave's. "Um… Spike?" Rudy looked upward slightly at the taller man.

Spike's olive eyes were on Rudy's for a moment, his expression was unreadable, almost cold, but he softened his gaze slightly afterward and even thought it wasn't yet a form of smile, he seemed to be reassuring Rudy. "It's alright. Jave knows what he's doing. Red is his after all," he said.

"Ah, you're right," Rudy chuckled, relenting immediately. "Then let's have dinner. Dellons and the others have started before us."

The three of them entered the kitchen and were welcomed with the sight of Rachel at the sink, washing the dishes. Eileen was snacking on a plate of cut-up melons and Dellons was playing with his phone.

"Oh, you're all done already? That's fast," Rudy took his seat and prayed for a moment before he started to eat his share that was still on the table, along with Jave's and Spike's. Spike and Jave sat beside him and Dellons glanced at the two with calculating eyes.

"You guys took too long. What were you doing?" Dellons asked, his gaze seeming to notice something and both Spike and Jave flinched slightly even though they looked like they tried to ignore him.

"We don't have any obligation to inform you about our activity," Spike dodged the question calmly as he also began his dinner.

"T-true," Jave sounded a bit defensive, and he didn't look back at Dellons at all.

Dellons stared at the two for some more minutes before he chuckled and went back to his cell-phone. "It seems that a big bug bit you, huh, Jave. That bruise on your neck must hurt a lot," he commented afterward in a small snigger.

Jave almost fell down from his seat in his haste to cover his neck with one hand while his face spontaneously combusted and Spike's fork made a very hard impact to his plate that the plate actually cracked.

Rudy blinked at them in slight surprise and puzzlement as Eileen dropped her melon on the plate while gaping and Rachel caught the slipped plate she was washing.

There was a pregnant silence in the kitchen for about three seconds before—

"W-w-w-w-what are you saying, Dellons?!" Jave suddenly stuttered in high pitched tone. His face was so bright red that even Rudy was almost able to feel his skyrocketing mortification from his seat.

"I just asked if a big _bug_ had bitten you," Dellons' glinting baby blue eyes were _smirking_ at him, specifically at the hand that covered Jave's neck, even though he hid his mouth with his phone. And if it was possible, Jave's face was getting _rosier_ and _steamier_ at this point.

In contrast to Jave's panicking, Spike's mood seemed to turn _eerie_ for some reason, as he set his glare at Dellons before he put down his fork on his ruined dinner (poor plate!) and stood up. "Dellons, a moment, _please_."

The others instantly flinched as Spike spoke. Even Rudy winced at that so _very_ fake polite plea. Despite Spike's flat tone, there was this dark, frightening aura that came out from his body and his voice was dripping with icy threat to Dellons' safety.

"Uh-oh, did I wake a sleeping _Berserker_?" Dellons widened his eyes, feigning innocence and surprise, even though he perfectly knew what he was doing.

_He really doesn't understand the meaning of self-preservation, does he?_ —Rudy's sweat dropped as Spike moved to catch Dellons' collar and then proceeded to drag him out of the kitchen, possibly out of the house since they were about to get into a fight.

Jave covered his flushing face with both palms, whimpering in total mortification, before suddenly he stood and ran after Spike, "Wait, Spike!" and exited the premise as well, his face still colored _crimson_.

Rudy could only blink uncomprehendingly at the scene unraveling before him, not knowing what triggered Spike's urge to _destroy_ , but he knew how to read the sign pretty well. Spike was about to go berserk and he had set his target on Dellons _again_. It often happened when they were in high school, but lately, Spike could control himself better. There was no incident in the past year. What could possibly wake up Spike's old bad habit?

Besides… "Why is Jave so embarrassed? What did I miss? Didn't Dellons just ask whether or not a bug bit him?" Seriously, Rudy really didn't understand his friends' behavior sometimes.

"Oh, Rudy…" Rachel was suddenly behind him and then hugged his neck from behind. "You're so _precious_ sometimes that I want to strangle you," she said as she launched her threat into action, put his neck in the inside of her elbow and then trapped it in a headlock.

"Gyaaaa! Wha-what, _what?!_ " Rudy was quite in shock as he struggled to free himself from Rachel's attempt to _murder_ him.

"Go for it, Rach. I'll do it next," Eileen cracked her knuckles and smirked at him evilly, and Rudy paled seeing that from Rachel's deadly maneuver.

"W-what the heck is wrong with all of you, today?!" Rudy couldn't help yelling in horror at his current predicament.

Yeah, it was still a long way to go for Rudy to understand his friends completely.

* * *

**~ A Seven Knights Fan Fiction~**

* * *

In his room, Kris looked at his cell phone quietly. A message from one of the Four Lords was displayed on its screen.

_Let's meet at the Floating Market in China Town this Sunday—_ Mikazuki Ace.

**End of Round 5**

**Tbc...**

* * *

**Additional Notes:**

Per some request, here's a list of (made up or official) full names of the characters that might/already show up in this universe:

1)Kris Tenebra

2)Rudy Lucerna

3)Dellons Blackscythe

4)Jave Dragoon

5)Spike Luftetar

6)Rachel Agni

7)Eileen Keiserin

8)Lu Bu

9)Son Goku

10)Mikazuki Ace

11)Ryuujou Rin

12)Pascal Perandor

13)Bai Jiaou

Alright, for now that's all the characters from Seven Knights fandom in this story. Will be updated every time new character shows up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah… I have to say sorry that the teaser in previous round isn't actually for this round. It's for round 6, so there's no teaser this time, sorry! Well, how do you like the story so far? I hope it's not too boring for you. And yes, Spike/Jave hooks up first *lol*. They're cute together anyway and I was already eyeing this pair since I'd known in the cannon 7Ks plot that Jave stopped Spike when he went berserk, so… there you have them as a pair here ^^; Comment? Questions? Con-crit? Hit that review button to start discussion!


	7. Round 6: Confrontation 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kris distances himself from Rudy, trying to sort out his feelings. Rudy is confused why Kris gives him a cold shoulder. Dellons is plotting to involve all his friends in stalking Kris on his... date?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, Seven Knights Mania! Finally I have time to update again. Sorry for the long wait. It’d been hectic these past weeks (months?) in my home, so… I apologize for the delay in updating. Now, please do and enjoy! Round 6… FIGHT!
> 
> **Disclaimer and Warning: _See prologue…_**

**A Gift from A Far Away World—a Seven Knights Fan fiction**

© lunaryu

**Round 6: _Confrontation 1_**

* * *

In the morning, Kris tried not to run into Rudy.

Well, he _tried_. See the operative word? It didn’t work at all because apparently Rudy had been waiting for Kris to emerge out of his room and actually _camped_ overnight in front of his door.

Kris face-palmed with a resigned sigh as Rudy smiled at him sheepishly from the fortress he had built with blankets, sheets and pillows all around him on the floor. “Good morning, Kris.” He greeted sunnily.

Kris entertained an idea to go back inside his room and take an impromptu vacation from college just to avoid Rudy before promptly dismissing it entirely. It wouldn’t make the _problem_ go away and Rudy wasn’t the type of person who would give up on pestering Kris until he got what he wanted, no matter what Kris did. Worse, Rudy would just keep knocking on his door if he went back inside, so… trying not to recall yesterday embarrassing event, Kris spoke. “What do you want, Rudy?” He was acting curtly on purpose, at least to deter him, but Rudy didn’t seem to mind it in the slightest.

“I want to talk… and apologize to you about yesterday.” Rudy slowly stood up, maintaining his friendly smile, so he was on eye level with Kris and didn’t have to look upward to see Kris’ face. “I wasn’t thinking. I’m sorry,” he continued softly.

Kris’ left eye twitched slightly in reaction, trying to stifle the blush that was about to arise on his cheeks witnessing such gorgeous smile on Rudy’s expression (although, it was mostly failed). Here he was trying to forget the _incident_ , but Rudy, as thick as always, had to remind him about it. “It’s fine. I’m not angry.” Kris looked away from Rudy, not wanting the brunet to see his (most likely) pink face any longer.

“But you’re avoiding me,” Rudy’s expression turned slightly sad, his sweet amber eyes widening and moist, like a thrown out puppy and Kris couldn’t stand seeing that look without his heart starting to race (and melt), so he turned his body away completely from him.

“Stop that.” Kris clenched the material on his thrumming chest, trying to calm his own erratic heartbeat without facing Rudy. “I’m not avoiding you. I just need time to sort out my feel—I mean, my _thought_.” Great. He almost said _feelings_. Could he be more awkward? “I promise I’m not angry, so… give it a rest and forget about it, Rudy.”

Rudy was quiet for a minute before suddenly his hand was on Kris’ left shoulder, and Kris was very surprised when it was pulled back, so he had no choice but to look at Rudy in the eye once again. Rudy’s other hand promptly cupped his right cheek and Rudy’s face was _too freaking close_ to his _again_ that Kris couldn’t help but be reminded about yesterday event once more.

_Rudy’s lips… Rudy’s tongue… on Kris’s lower lip…_

Kris’ face heated instantly, but Rudy seemed to ignore that interesting reaction in order to set a serious expression as he stared directly at Kris’ widely open eyes. “That’s not good. Face me properly when you speak to me, Kris. Or else I won’t be able to read you,” he said somberly, his tender eyes gazing at his eyes and then at his _lips_.

_Holy lord!—_ Kris panicked and shoved Rudy’s face away from him immediately this time.

“Your face is too freaking close, you idiot!” Kris raised his voice, his entire face and neck feeling like they were burning. It was so embarrassing, _damn it_. Rudy didn’t learn anything from yesterday event at all, and he said he was thoroughly scolded by Jave? He had to be joking!

“Ahaha, sorry about that,” Rudy spoke, muffled by Kris’ palm. Kris could actually feel his lips moving and currently it felt like his hand that went on fire because technically, Rudy was kissing his palm like this.

Kris pulled his hand away from Rudy’s face (and mouth) and once again averted his gaze from Rudy despite not being able to turn his body around again, because Rudy’s right hand was still on his shoulder and his left was still cupped on Kris’ cheek. “Let go,” Kris requested, trying to pull away from Rudy’s wicked obliviousness.

“No,” Rudy shook his head, his palm pushing Kris’ cheek slightly to fix his head position, as if to make sure that Kris couldn’t look away from Rudy again. “I need to make it up to you as an apology,” he said, without realizing that what he was doing was driving Kris’ mind up the wall. His heart was beating too hard and too fast. It was hard for him to breathe like this. Rudy’s hands were very warm and it felt incredibly good being so close to him.

_This isn’t good… I’m losing my mind here. Please just stop!_ —Kris shut his eyes, his mind blaring an alarm because this world Kris’ body was reacting very eagerly and at this point it wouldn’t be strange at all if he got _too excited_.

“So, this Sunday, shall we go to amusement park?” Rudy asked and Kris almost missed it because he was too preoccupied with trying too hard to calm himself down.

“What?” Though, Kris _did_ hear the offer. He opened his eyes. Amusement park? Was Rudy trying to ask him out on a date? “Why amusement park?” Somehow, despite knowing he shouldn’t, Kris couldn’t help himself hoping a little.

_No, get a grip of yourself, Kris Tenebra! Even though you like this person that way, on the inside you’re NOT the one this Rudy wants! Don’t do this!_ —It was the rational thought, the sensible warning, but Kris just couldn’t help it because the atmosphere was right for it to develop into something more intimate and romantic. He ignored all cautions as he gazed into Rudy’s luminous amber eyes, captivated by their radiance as always.

“It’s been awhile since _all of us_ play together, right?” Rudy smiled again cheerily and Kris instantly felt like his head was smacked by a ton hammer.

_Of course it’s something like that. He is Rudy Lucerna, the king of obliviousness after all. I’m an utter idiot for getting worked up on my own again_ —Kris felt slightly depressed and much annoyed, mostly at himself. He should have known better. If Rudy suggested an outing, it would be just that, _an outing_.

“I already asked the others last night, and they said it was a good idea to have a relaxing vacation to relieve some stress after exam week, so…” Rudy, still unaware of Kris’ worsening mood, continued.

_Besides, Rudy won’t leave his other friends behind if he wants to go to play somewhere. Of course Rudy has asked them all to come as well._

Kris felt his left eye twitching repeatedly now, getting increasingly irritated as Rudy talked about the others pitching ideas for destinations, and finally they decided it would be fun playing in amusement park. It was a one day trip and they could spend the rest of the vacation week doing other things they wanted to do respectively after that.

“What do you think, Kris? Next Sunday sounds good?” Rudy asked once again and Kris had had enough of Rudy’s witlessness, so excuse him if he sounded angry when he _declined_ the invitation.

“I already have an appointment next Sunday, so I can’t come.” Kris grabbed both Rudy’s wrists and pulled his hands away from his face and shoulder rather forcefully. “Do go by yourselves and have fun,” he said stonily in Rudy’s shocked face before he turned around and walked away.

“Err… Kris…?”

Kris heard Rudy’s bewildered tone. His voice sounded unsure and he was probably confused and slightly hurt by Kris dismissing him so coldly and brusquely. But Kris just ignored him. He needed to take a step back to evaluate his interpersonal relationship with Rudy. Kris knew he shouldn’t be the one to initiate things after all. He had to hold back his feelings.

_And doing that by staying so close to you all the time is impossible, Rudy—_ Kris thought a bit repentantly. Moreover, if distance could make their hearts yearn stronger for each other, wouldn’t that be good? Or maybe Kris was just a masochist that refused to think that Rudy didn’t even feel about him _that way_.

_Besides, it’s more important to talk to Ace about more problematic matter, and I don’t want to involve the others in this troublesome thing. I guess I better come alone to the Floating Market in China Town next Sunday…_

Kris set a serious expression as he stepped out of the house that day.

* * *

  **~A Seven Knight Fan Fiction~**

* * *

Dellons stared at the brunet who rested his face in his arms on the table surface in their class and let out a spirit-sucking long sigh dejectedly, with a bead of sweat rolling down his cheek. “What happened to you?” he couldn’t help asking then, curious, before he took a sip from his water bottle.

Rudy mumbled something quietly, muffled by his arm, but Dellons caught the last part of his dispirited sentence. “…got rejected…”

Delons promptly spurted out his drink in shock, earning him an indignant, disgusted yell from the guy sitting at the seat in front of him. “W-w-what?!” Dellons ignored the guy protesting at him and looked at Rudy disbelievingly, since _yes, indeed_. That was very shocking because it was Rudy for God’s sake. “By whom?! How?! But firstly, when the hell did you confess?!” he asked, water still dripping from his chin.

Dellons had never thought there would be a day Rudy would get rejected by someone. He meant, the guy was like a saint (despite his obliviousness), and he thought Rudy loved Kris even if he hadn’t realized it yet.

“Confess… what?! No!” Rudy straightened his body and looked at Dellons with scandalized expression. “It’s not that kind of rejection! I didn’t confess to anyone!” he explained, his face flushing in mortification, before he made a gesture to placate the guy that looked increasingly pissed because Dellons blatantly ignored him. “I mean… my invitation got rejected, by Kris, this morning. You know, to amusement park next Sunday? The one we decided last night after you and Spike got back from your fight.” Rudy continued after the guy huffed and went back to his seat, still fuming.

“What… you surprised me…” Dellons sighed, wiped the water from his mouth with the back of his hand before he took another sip from his bottle. “So, why did he decline our group outing? It’s not like him being so reserved toward us, his friends.” _Especially toward you—_ he wanted to add, but thought the better of it and continued drinking.

“He said he already got an appointment that day,” Rudy answered and Dellons once again spat out his drink in reaction, shocked beyond belief. “Gross! Dellons, that’s disgusting!” Rudy, being at the receiving end of Dellons’ water spray this time, shoved at his friend’s shoulder while trying to wipe the water from his face to no avail.

With water still dripping once again, Dellons looked at Rudy in total disbelief. “Kris already have a _date_ next Sunday?!”

“Who said anything about a date? It’s an appointment,” Rudy huffed, apparently still pretty annoyed as he cleaned himself with a handkerchief he retrieved from his breast pocket.

“Oh, please, it’s Kris we’re talking about. Appointment is his polite way to say a date,” Dellons argued, once again wiping his face, now with his sleeve. “Don’t you remember that male senior that hit on Kris when we were still in high school? Kris said the same thing when he had dinner with that guy. Who was it again…Knot?”

“ _Knox_ ,” Rudy corrected and Dellons punched his palm as he remembered it as well.

“Yeah, that Knox guy,” Dellons grouched. “Kris had an appointment with him, and it turned out into a dinner date.” He still resented that fact a bit. Knox was the closest guy that almost dated Kris before he or Rudy could get a claim on the silver platinum blond. Even though Kris didn’t say anything about dating, he did agree to go on a date with Knox, so… it was a close call.

“Yeah, but… Knox is Kris’ cousin, right? Kris said so himself. He was just there to keep an eye on Kris per his father’s… _request_?” Rudy tilted his head aside, sounding unsure, and Dellons clicked his tongue because Rudy didn’t get it.

True, Knox was Kris cousin (second or third, he wasn’t sure), but that guy was quite serious with his feelings for Kris because Dellon himself confronted the older guy and despite the blonde’s threats of bodily harm and warning for him to back off, Knox just indulged him without any protest. He said it was all for Kris to decide and he just wanted Kris to be happy.

Knox was usually like death warmed over, so sickly pale and expressionless. That’s why, when Dellons saw his sincere smile and heard his honest words when he spoke about Kris, he knew Knox was _genuine_. He loved Kris not because of his family background or fame, but because he was _Kris_. Dellons couldn’t help but respect the guy slightly. It didn’t mean Dellons had to like that. Still, out of consideration to Kris’ decision, Dellons left Knox alone after that. Post that dinner date, Kris said that they were just cousins and nothing more to Dellons’ relief.

Knox had almost the same feature as Kris with silver platinum blond, but his hairstyle was more… _classic_ , tidy, unlike Kris’ calculated messy (but very soft and hot looking) one, and his irises were the color of electric blue instead of red. Knox’s body was built thicker and taller than Kris (two inches top?) and when they stood next to each other, they looked like brothers by blood.

In a way, Knox was a big brother that Kris didn’t have. Kris said they were pretty close since childhood. Knox had to come back to his hometown after graduating high school to continue his family business instead of going to college. Apparently, Kris was supposed to do the same, but he fought and bargained with his father to experience college and get a degree at least in something to bring their family name up a notch (Kris’ words). His father finally agreed after much deliberation, but Kris said he only got four years for that, and after that Kris had to go home to continue his father’s legacy.  

Dellons was pretty sure that Kris didn’t intend to keep his promise to his father because he knew how suffocating the life of a noble was. What? Kris _was_ a noble. Tenebra Group still had connection with the Royal Family in England even though only few selected people knew this. Dellons’ family was almost the same as Kris’. Only, Blackscythe Group was closely related to the Royalties from Denmark, and he knew he didn’t want to continue living under monitor 24/7.

Dellons himself had countlessly argued with his family to let him stay with Rudy and his friends. Luckily, Dellons was like a black horse ( _sheep is too weak, so horse it is_ ) in Blackscythe Group, so his presence wasn’t really missed in his own family gathering. Though his family guards (by the order of his father) had tried to bring him back home several times last year, but to no avail, because they couldn’t touch Dellons without being beaten to a pulp. Even when they succeeded on kidnapping him, Dellons only had to run away again after that.

Dellons was actually a bit surprised that Kris’ father hadn’t attempted to send someone to pick Kris up after he didn’t go back home at all last year, like what Dellons’ father did, but Dellons brilliantly disguised the failed kidnapping with a normal brawl. He got chewed by Rudy after that, but it wasn’t worth the effort to explain himself, so he left it at that. Or, maybe Kris’ father did try something, but like Dellons, Kris just beat them up to leave him alone. Kris had certainly been capable of defending himself judging from his mean right hook.

“Yeah, well, who knows? A person can fall in love with their cousin too,” Dellons muttered in a shrug, trying not to think about Knox and his almost success in dating Kris. _Move on._ There was a more pressing problem here and it had something to do with Kris’ next appointment. “Who is Kris’ date?” he asked Rudy grimly.

“Huh? I didn’t ask. Kris looked kind of mad when he left,” Rudy seemed to just remember the fact and his expression turned miserable again. “Why do I keep making Kris mad these days…?” and there he was, back into moping.

Dellons clicked his tongue, glaring at Rudy and getting exasperated at his best friend’s uselessness sometimes. “We have to follow him next Sunday,” he suggested, not listening to Rudy’s bemoaning about not understanding what he had done to irate Kris this time.

“Huh?!” Rudy looked like he was about to break his neck when he whirled his head so fast to face Dellons again. “You can’t! That’s rude to Kris and his d-date!” he almost faltered at the word ‘date’, but his expression was righteously disapproving of Dellons’ idea. Well, at least Rudy just admitted out loud that Kris’s appointment next Sunday was probably… or _most likely_ a date.

“You can’t tell me you’re _not_ curious at all about his date, can you?” Dellons challenged, raising one of his eyebrows and crossed his arms on his chest.

Rudy winced and went silent.

Dellons waited, raising his other eyebrow.

It seemed that Rudy was thinking carefully and now was visibly wavering. He just couldn’t lie all that well. What he felt was always visible in his expression and right now, it was telling Dellons that _hell yes_ he was mighty curious, but he wasn’t sure about tailing his best friend like a stalker and it could possibly conjure another wrath from Kris and he didn’t want to be at the receiving end of that.

“Let me tell you this, Rudy. I’m not letting other guys except you or I touch Kris no matter what. If you don’t want to go, that’s fine. I’ll just follow him by myself, but you _will not_ stop me, got it?” Dellons gave an ultimatum and Rudy looked even more conflicted before he finally raised a white flag first by letting out a long suffering sigh.

_Line, hook and sinker_ —Dellons secretly smirked.

“I’ll go with you,” Rudy said, flushing faintly, almost sounding timid and embarrassed, and a lot _guilty_.

“Good. It’s a date, my friend,” Dellons grinned and slapped Rudy’s slumping back in victory. See, Rudy just couldn’t resist if it was about Kris. Well, he was Rudy. He was just being nosy as usual since he tended to worry a lot about his friends. Also, as oblivious as Rudy was, he still probably didn’t want Kris to date other people. Rudy hadn’t realized his feelings yet, but subconsciously he was doing everything he could to keep Kris _single_.

It was just a matter of time until he finally understood what he felt for Kris.

* * *

**~A Seven Knights Fan Fiction~**

* * *

Kris was just about to enter the gate to his communal house when he spotted a blue sport car just at the edge of their lawn. He looked at the car curiously before noticing that the engine was on and it was obvious that someone or some people were _watching_ either him or his house from behind the car tinted glass windows.

Kris turned to face the car, narrowing his eyes slightly to show whoever behind the windows that he had spotted them and wasn’t afraid to confront them any second then. Although, his intention seemed rather naught when he saw the car door being opened, revealing behind it someone in neat suits and sunglasses that was very familiar to him and to his friends that shared their house.

“Mr. Perandor?” Kris was surprised seeing the gray haired man getting off of his car before closing the door and then walked toward Kris.

Pascal Perandor was the owner of Kris and friends’ boarding house and time to time he came to check on its residents, just to make sure that his house and its occupants were in one piece and there was nothing that needed fixing immediately. He was quite wealthy, a successful real estate agent with a bunch of houses that he sometimes rented to students of Terra Demesne University who could afford the rent since apparently he was an alumni and he had no qualm in giving discount to his juniors if only it was for sentimental value. Though, since Kris, Rachel and Dellons were quite loaded themselves, there was no need for Pascal to cut the original price. Their allowance alone could buy the entire house and land after all.

Besides, Rudy’s adopted father, Aragon, was apparently Pascal’s old friend. They got the deal to live in their current house with minimal effort because of that fact.

Pascal’s gray hair wasn’t because of old age even though he was indeed in his early forties (around 42, maybe) and could be considered a middle aged man. He was born with that color of hair, some kind of genetic defect that caused the pigment of his hair to wash out. His body was tall and slender, and he wore nice, branded suits that fitted his body perfectly every time he showed up in front of Kris and his friends. Actually, he seemed to always wear suits whenever he went out, along with a pair of sunglasses. He was dandy like that.

“Hi, Kris,” Pascal greeted him in an outgoing wave as he removed his sunglasses and slipped it inside the inside pocket of his dark purple suits, and then offered his hand for Kris to shake. Kris shook it politely, giving him an unsure smile.

“What brings you here today, Mr. Perandor?”

“Mandatory checkup on my house residents.” Pascal shot him an amused smile and Kris chuckled awkwardly, a bit uncomfortably. It wasn’t that Kris disliked Pascal. He just wasn’t able to read him like he could anyone else. There was a mysterious air around him despite the nature of Pascal’s job, and Kris wasn’t comfortable around people that seemed to hide something behind his smart smile and friendly gesture.

Or, Kris just couldn’t relax around people that weren’t in his circle of friends. Kris rarely dealt with Pascal after all. It was usually Rudy’s job to entertain the landlord, but it seemed Kris was the first to come home…

“Oh, then why didn’t you just enter? You have your own key, right? You didn’t need to wait in your car for one of us to return.” Kris titled his head, a bit bemused as he realized that it was perfectly normal if their landlord wanted to check up on them and his own house.

“That would be violating our agreement,” Pascal smiled. “This house is your private sanctuary as long as you guys pay your rent. I wouldn’t want to intrude without warning,” he explained as Kris opened the gate and entered, followed closely by Pascal.

“Not at all, Mr. Perandor. It’s your house after all,” Kris closed the gate again without locking it as soon as Pascal walked past him to the front door. “You could always call in advance, though.”

“I did last night. Rudy answered the phone,” Pascal chuckled again as Kris scowled lightly, muttering under his breath to himself that Rudy failed to mention it this morning in slight annoyance. “Oh right, Kris. I believed I already said this, but you can call me Pascal, you know. We’ve known each other for over a year already. Calling me Mr. Perandor all the time sounds too distant, don’t you think?”

“Ah, forgive me, Mr. –err… I mean, _Pascal_ ,” Kris gave him a tight smile. “I was taught from early age to be polite to older people. It’s a habit that’s hard to break.”

“Oh, I see… but really, I’d like it more when you said my first name,” Pascal’s smile widened slightly, his deep voice sounding a bit teasing actually, and Kris felt that he was being sized up admiringly as well with the way Pascal’s gray eyes raked his body from top to bottom.

Kris looked away slightly, feeling extra uncomfortable then. He didn’t want to act rude by accusing the older man of being too forward with his slightly… _impure_ intention in his face, but he didn’t want to entertain him of the idea further either. This was why he didn’t like interacting with people. He never knew how to act accordingly and to treat this as a joke.

“Oh, isn’t it Pascal?”

Rudy’s voice from the outside saved Kris from having to react to Pascal’s flirting. Pascal’s eyes shifted to the addition of people as Rudy showed up on the front door, followed by Dellons who greeted the older man with a “Hey, landlord,” and a wave before he made a beeline to the bathroom.

“Rudy, Dellons,” Pascal greeted back as Kris slowly inched away from him in his distraction when Rudy came up to Pascal to shake hands with him.

“I thought you’d come a bit later,” Rudy said with a grin, looking and sounding genuinely happy meeting his landlord.

“Yeah, I’d like to check up on the house _and_ the plants, so I came earlier than my intended time. But I forgot today is weekday and you guys have classes. I ended up sitting in my car waiting for one of you to come home,” Pascal laughed slightly, seeming to be amused with his own carelessness.

“Huh? But you can always enter the house as you please. It’s _your_ house after all. Don’t you bring your key with you?” Rudy repeated Kris’ earlier question and Pascal answered him with the same answer he answered Kris. “Ahah, I see,” Rudy laughed with him after that as he led Pascal inside to have some more chats.

Kris sighed in slight relief when he was no longer in Pascal line of sight. He closed the front door and locked it before he went farther inside to drop his bag in his room. Kris bumped into Dellons when he passed the living room to the kitchen since he intended to fetch a glass of water to drink.

“Heya, Princess, heard you won’t be with us in our outing next Sunday,” Dellons greeted, asking for confirmation that he indeed had declined Rudy’s proposal of vacationing after exam week. “You have an _appointment_?” he raised one of his eyebrows meaningfully, obviously guessing that the appointment wasn’t exactly an appointment, but something more… _informal_.

Kris let out a weary sigh, not even getting provoked anymore by Dellons’ persistence in calling him _princess_. “It’s none of your business, Dellons.”  

Dellons pouted. “That’s not nice, Princess. Even though you have me right here, you still want to go on a _date_ with other people,” he feigned sulking then and it wasn’t cute at all.

“Who said anything about a date?” Kris frowned. What in the world was Dellons talking about?

Dellons didn’t answer him right away, but his sharp cerulean eyes were calculating as he stared at Kris. There was a strange glint in Dellons’ orbs that made Kris squirm a bit under their focused attention.

“What?” Kris finally asked, slightly annoyed, not because he was unable to take the peculiar gaze anymore.

“I wonder…” Dellons mumbled lightly, but the rest of his words were lost to Kris because Dellons’s smirk after that spoke _mischief_ more loudly.

Kris felt a bad omen. “What are you planning?” he couldn’t help sending Dellons’ suspicious glare.

Dellons chuckled slightly at that. “Nothing. I’m just excited about our outing next Sunday,” he said before he whistled a light tune as he walked first into the kitchen.

Kris, who had stopped to scrutinize Dellons’ back, couldn’t help but huff as he resumed his walk following the blonde to enter the kitchen as well.

It seemed that Rudy and Pascal had been conversing in the kitchen instead of the living room since he found them there, and right then Rudy was pouring hot water on a coffee maker, preparing two cups of coffee for himself and probably for Pascal as well. The older man seated at the corner of the dining table, talking on the phone, speaking leisurely about making an appointment with a client next Sunday morning and Dellons was rummaging inside the fridge for a bottle of water.

“Pass me a bottle, Dellons,” Kris said as he sat down at the other corner or the table, not wanting to disturb Pascal’s business conversation, and also because he didn’t want Pascal to make unwanted advance on him again like earlier.

“Here, Princess,” Dellons threw the bottle at him and Kris caught it easily. He could see from the corner of his eyes that Pascal glanced at Kris and Dellons, raising his eyebrows in slight wonder at the unique exchange, probably more questioning about why Dellons called Kris Princess. Kris ignored that since he didn’t want to explain anything and Dellons cackled slightly as Rudy shook his head with a rueful smile in reaction to that.

Rudy served a cup in front of Pascal and he mouthed a thank you to him as he continued his conversation on the phone. Rudy put down his own cup and sat in front of their landlord and waited for Pascal to finish his phone call.

“Yes, seems that it’s already decided if he sent you a message already, right?” Pascal smiled, pausing slightly as he listened on the person on the opposite line talking. “Yeah, of course I’ll be there as well. See you next Sunday then. I’ll ask Bai Jiao to prepare the necessary material for the presentation. Okay, I’ll leave it to you guys to bring him over. Bye.” Pascal ended the phone call casually and chuckled.

“Got another client to close the deal?” Rudy asked, smiling as well, seeming to be happy that Pascal seemed excited about his main job.

Pascal gave him a secretive smile. “Something like that.”

“Alright then, do you want to start the inspection now, Pascal?” Rudy stood up after he drank his coffee dry in one gulp.

“Ah, actually, I just remembered that I have an appointment in 15 minutes,” Pascal stood up as well and smiled at Rudy apologetically. “I have to leave now if I don’t want to be late.”

“Wait so soon?” Rudy looked surprised as Pascal took his sunglasses out of his pocket and put it back on. “Do you want to see the herbs garden at least? We planted those seeds you wanted us to plant. They’re growing,” he followed as Pascal made a move to get out of the dining room.

“That’s alright. I believe in your green thumbs, Rudy,” Pascal replied softly, but his tone was a bit dismissing and Kris didn’t like it that he brushed off lightly Rudy’s (and everyone) effort in growing those plants. It was Pascal’s request after all. He could at least try to see the progress of those plants, couldn’t he?

_He didn’t even touch the coffee that Rudy made—_ Kris glanced at the still steaming cup of coffee, scowling inwardly.

“He’s as annoying as ever,” Dellons muttered as he also sent an unreadable smirk and sharp gaze at Pascal’s direction from his spot, leaning his hip at the counter while drinking from the bottle, as Rudy was still talking following Pascal out toward the front door.

“You think so?” Kris didn’t look at Dellons as he opened his own bottle and drank from it, couldn’t help thinking that Pascal gave him a knowing smile when he walked past him earlier. What was that about? Was it just his imagination?

“Absolutely,” Dellons grinned and dropped his empty plastic bottle inside a trashcan near his feet. “He checks up on us like we’re just a bunch of unreliable kids living in his house. Annoying.”

“But we _are_ a bunch of kids living in _his_ house,” Kris admitted under his breath, but he resented that unreliable part. Except for Dellons, they were reliable. He couldn’t help sending Dellons a _look_.

“Somehow I just got a feeling that you insulted me with _that_ look just now,” Dellons’ grin turned rather feral as he looked back at Kris and Kris had to look away, clicking his tongue wondering if Dellons was a _mind reader_.

“Let’s just send that old man away,” Kris stood up after he was done drinking half content of his water bottle and then left it on the table. He got out of the kitchen to the front door, Dellons hot on his heels. Both arrived just as Pascal was leaving.  

“I’ll see you kids some other time. I’ll check up on the house and the garden next visit.” Pascal bid them good bye with a smile before he hopped on his car and then drove away.

“He could at least drink the coffee,” Rudy sulked a bit as he closed the door once again.

“See? _Annoying_ ,” Dellons smirked in triumph as if he proved a point.

“Whatever,” Kris huffed and walked back inside to retreat to his room before Rudy made any attempt to talk to him again. He still needed to sort out his feelings after all and he didn’t want to talk to Rudy or Dellons at this moment.

“Ah, Kris, wait,” Rudy called. _Dang._

Kris pretended he didn’t hear his call as he hurried inside his room and locked the door after closing it. He sighed with his back leaning against the door and could faintly hear Dellons disbelieving voice saying, “ _Dude_ , he’s completely avoiding you.”

“I know! That’s why I told you he was mad at me about something this morning, but I don’t know what I did to make him mad!” Rudy wailed pitifully in reaction, sounding completely distressed.

A bead of sweat rolled down Kris’ cheek comically. He moved away from the door to muffle his ears, not wanting to know what Rudy and Dellons talking about his strange behavior.

“Now, preparing for next Sunday appointment,” Kris said as he sat at his desk, making some notes of how he should act and what he was going to say to extract information from Ace. He wasn’t just about to hand everything he knew about his own experiment without knowing their goal or why they were interested in it in the first place.

* * *

**~A Seven Knights Fanfiction~**

* * *

Days rolled by without any exciting things happening and suddenly it was Sunday.

Rudy still tried several attempts to patch things with Kris even though there was nothing to patch. Kris wasn’t exactly angry anymore and he talked to Rudy like usual, but he did make an effort not to be alone with Rudy. He would pull Dellons or Jave, or anyone for that matter, in conversation whenever he talked to Rudy, and made sure to ask their whereabouts whenever he and Rudy ended up alone in the house or at the same place. He even made an effort to talk to the librarian at the counter when he went there with Rudy and stayed there for as long as possible before he took the book he wanted to read and settled in silence with Rudy studying in the same table as him after that.

Kris thought by doing things like this, he wouldn’t have to think much about his feelings and relationship with Rudy. It would be great to remain platonic and not indulging his desire to be closer to him intimately. Moreover, he should concentrate more on how to explain his experiment to _those people_ without revealing his own secret as a being from other dimension. No matter how many scenarios he ran in his head, it still wouldn’t end well if the truth was revealed.

Self-preservation was one thing, but he also needed to consider how this affected Rudy and the others. If it was revealed that Kris wasn’t exactly _their_ Kris, how would they take this? They lived in the same house as him. Would they be treated as accomplices? It wasn’t just Kris’ fate on the line, it was theirs too, so Kris couldn’t be reckless about dealing with it.

“Hey, big day ahead huh?” Dellons’ voice and his grinning face in front of Kris brought Kris back from his train of thought.

“Good morning, Dellons,” Kris greeted back impassively, before raising one of his eyebrows noting Dellons casual light blue Hard Rock shirt with skulls and roses image in the chest part under a nice black leather jacket, a pair of tight fitting black jeans, and a pair of his favorite black and blue Adidas sneaker. Those seemed rather overkill for an outing with his friends. He wasn’t going on a date after all. Who could he possibly want to impress?

Dellons seemed to misinterpret his staring as an act of appreciation when he smirked, stroking his blond hair back and tilted his head a little, sending a come-hither look at Kris while saying, “Seeing something you like, Princess?”

Kris scowled. “Aren’t you hot with all those black?” he refused to entertain Dellons and to admit that the blonde really did look extremely good with that outfit.

Dellons’ expression turned gleeful. “You think I’m _hot_ , huh?”

_Shoot! Of course Dellons wouldn’t miss making innuendo and joke with it!_ —Kris felt his face heating a bit while deepening his scowl.

“That’s not what I mean,” Kris huffed, annoyed and a bit embarrassed. Dellons just laughed at him after that.

“Holly-molly, Dellons. You look amazing!” Eileen’s voice from the stairs made both Kris and Dellons turn their head at her. Her eyes were wide and sparkling as she ogled Dellons, awestruck. “Where in the world did you buy that leather jacket?”

Rachel, who came down after her, also looked mildly fascinated seeing her friend as she commented, “It accentuates you lean figure quite nicely. Good job in picking it out.”

Dellons’ grin widened slightly at the compliment. “You ladies are looking good and dashing too,” he complimented back.

It was true. Eileen dressed herself with simple but elegant slim-fit black and top with small, shining, glittering fragments all over the material surface under a washed out fuchsia jacket—the color fitted nicely with her shaggy, wavy strawberry blond hair and her violet eyes—, a pair of black skinny jeans, and a pair of black-red flat sandals. She was already tall enough to forego heels, and she was mostly active and sporty, so this getup suited her well.

Beside her, Rachel was almost in contrast with Eileen in appearance. While Eileen looked sporty and elegant, Rachel looked classy and sweet in a gradual pink one piece dress with white hydrangea motives all over. It was sleeveless—well, there were sleeves, but they looked almost transparent with how thin the material was— and the skirt part, which color gradually darken downward, went bellow her knees. She was wearing white-pink decker on each arm, going from her wrist until the crevice of her elbow with laces on each of the decker-top, and a pair of mid-calf pink boots complementing her pink-white diagonally-striped panty hose. She looked like a Lolita doll, more so with her hair done in two pony tails on the sides of her head, flowery and frilly hairbands decorating it.

Both girls glanced at each other with amused, mischievous smiles at Dellons impressed tone before they clasped their hands in a playful hand-holding. Kris smiled slightly and Dellons laughed in good humor. A few minutes later, Jave and Spike entered the premise, joining their group. Spike was dressed casually with white-red button-up shirt, a pair of black loose jeans, and a pair of white-red sneakers, while Jave was done up in light purple V-neck shirt in dot and square patterns under dark purple jacket, a pair of dark purple pants and a pair of black-purple sneakers.

“Oh, you’re all ready? That’s great!” Jave said, a giddy smile on his face. Spike grunted a low “good morning” in contrast with Jave’s excited greeting. Kris, Rachel and Eileen greeted them both back while Dellons smirked at the pair.

“Too bad Kris won’t be there,” Dellons sighed, sounding a bit forlorn, but Kris knew better than to accept Dellons seemingly innocent regret at a face value. He knew the blond was planning something, though he didn’t know what he was up to.

“You won’t realize I’m not there since you’ll be too preoccupied with playing around the amusement park, Dellons,” Kris pointed out, rolling his eyes slightly.

“Oh, Princess you wound me! Of course I’ll be constantly conscious of your absence in our group. Remember how I feel about you?” Dellons sent Kris a mock gasp, feigning hurt pout, but the corner of his lips twitched slightly at Kris deadpanned expression and the others’ collective eye-roll.

“Just ignore him, Kris,” Jave sounded annoyed at Dellons’ usual theatric as he addressed Kris. “I hope your appointment will go well. Are you meeting someone important? I never got a chance to ask before,” he casually asked. “A professor? Someone from your family?”

“No,” Kris shook his head, partly just to cut before Jave could ramble about all possible identities of whom Kris was about to meet today. “Just acquaintance,” he didn’t elaborate further and Jave visibly pouted for failing to extract some information. Kris didn’t realize that his meeting with Ace today would become such intriguing clandestine for his friends that they became nosy enough to ask him repeatedly, both subtly and not so subtly.

“Ouch. That hurts even more. Your acquaintance is more important to you than spending time with your housemates!” Dellons apparently hadn’t done yet with his charade as he held his chest, as if he was experiencing chest pain.

“Very convincing, Dellons,” Kris made a face.” I simply already made plans with them first before our vacation plan was decided. Surely Rudy already told you this.” Kris was kind of sure that Dellons already interrogated Rudy the moment Rudy told him that Kris wouldn’t be joining them in their trip to amusement park. He actually caught both of them, or precisely, his _all_ housemates in the kitchen talking about Kris and his supposedly ‘appointment’ when they thought Kris wasn’t around. Kris didn’t eavesdrop the entire conversation though. That would be undignified and he didn’t really want to know what kind of speculation they had about the appointment.

Kris got a flash and instantly remembered his previous ‘appointment’. No matter what Dellons told the others, it wasn’t actually a _date_. It was just friendly dinner outside the house. Knox was his cousin and he wanted to talk to Kris about what he would do after he graduated high school. Knox actually had yearned to go to university to expand his education, but his father insisted he came home to start his training to succeed family business. He had asked Kris for an advice despite Kris being a year younger.

He didn’t know why, but Knox had this… proclivity to involve Kris in _any_ life decision he made. He said it was because Kris was important to him and he… kind of, _maybe_ , loved him, as more than a family, even though he didn’t explicitly say it like that. Kris got a feeling though, because of the way Knox looked at him wasn’t exactly subtle. It couldn’t have gone anywhere of course, since it was illegal. Besides, Kris hadn’t and would never feel like that about him. Therefore, Kris told Knox as much.

Knox just chuckled and said he already knew that, and he wouldn’t do anything about it either because he just wanted to _love_ Kris instead of having a romantic relationship with him. Kris didn’t exactly understand his reasoning at the time, and he still hadn’t understood now. But the wanting to love him part was kind of nice and Kris couldn’t exactly dislike being loved by his family could he? So, as long as Knox kept his romantic feeling to Kris in check, Kris didn’t mind it at all.

Of course Dellons made a big deal about that dinner and the fact that Kris agreed to dine with Knox in the first place. The entire school was in uproar because of rumor about Knox _wooing_ Kris and it was PR nightmare for him and Knox… alright, _mostly_ for Knox—because Kris was the school darling and no one dared to question him because of his family—for a while. He wouldn’t let Kris live it down either before Dellons had a personal ‘talk’ with Knox. Surprisingly, he didn’t rough Knox at all after that talk. Kris never had a chance to ask what they were talking about, but he didn’t want to push his luck. As long as Dellons backed down, he didn’t need to know how Knox persuaded him.

“I’m still wondering how you could have made new acquaintance without us knowing,” Dellons’ voice brought Kris back from his involuntary train of thought. “I mean, aside going to class and doing personal project, one of us was always around you.” He looked nonplussed as he said that and Kris sighed.

“You mean you _stalk_ me.” It wasn’t a question. Kris crossed his arms on his chest. “I should sue you.” He glared at Dellons accusingly and the blond just smiled and blinked at him in artificial innocence.

Before Dellons and anyone else had a chance to say something about that, Rudy walked in. “Hey guys, the rent car is ready,” he said with a smile. “We should get our things on before we leave.”    

“So that’s why you weren’t making breakfast. You went to get the car?” Eileen asked Rudy while Rachel immediately went back upstairs to fetch their purses.

“The rental company wouldn’t open before 8.00, so I needed to go there myself to take the car if we want to leave around 8.00. Come on. We’re behind schedule,” Rudy clapped his hands to get his friends moving.

“Why do we need schedule if what we’re going to do is just sit on the car the entire trip?” Dellons muttered in annoyance as he moved while Jave and Spike just shrugged as they also went to their room to get their things.

Rudy turned to Kris then. “You sure you won’t come with us, Kris? There’s still a chance to change your mind,” he smiled nicely as he once again persuaded Kris to go with them. One had to compliment him for his sheer stubbornness and tenacity, really. Rudy was really bad at giving up.

Kris smiled back at him, a bit ruefully. “I’d feel bad to my acquaintance if I had to cancel our appointment at the last minutes,” he said.

“Alright then,” Rudy looked disappointed, but it wasn’t in his nature to sacrifice other people’s time for his own personal gain, so he probably didn’t hope much for Kris to reconsider his decision.

After the slight hassle of them all moving around to get their things in the car baggage, they finally got themselves seated in the car. Rudy was driving. Dellons sat on the shotgun. On the middle seat were Rachel and Eileen and on the back row were Spike and Jave.

“Alright, we’re going now. See you tomorrow then, Kris,” Rudy waved from the open car window and Kris waved back from the entrance with a light “be careful on your way”, before Rudy drove away.

Kris sighed after he dropped his hand beside him. “Well, it could have been worse. I should be thankful that none of them decided to stay just to be nosy about my appointment,” he shrugged as he went back inside the house.

Well, Kris should have known better _not to_ jinx it.  

* * *

**~A Seven Knight Fan Fiction~**

* * *

As soon as their car turned at the junction, Rudy made a move to turn the car around and then stopped at the roadside and then killed the engine.

“Why are we stopping here?” Jave scrunched his nose, sounding confused.

“Didn’t you hear our last talk about this?” Dellons turned at Jave pityingly. “We’re going to follow Kris on his _date_.”

Spike snorted lightly. “Not a date, just an _appointment_ ,” he muttered lowly, but everyone could hear him just fine.

“I’m surprised you really agreed to do this, Rudy. You’re usually more dignified than approving Dellons’ bizarre plan,” Rachel raised one eyebrow, crossing her arms on her chest while levelling Rudy with disapproving look.

Rudy had a decency to feel ashamed, flushing slightly and fidgeting, while Dellons snickered rather loudly, telling the others that he was just as curious as Dellons about Kris’ supposedly new acquaintance.

“Well, Kris deems them important enough to sacrifice his time with us just to meet them,” Eileen shrugged. “I think they’re quite important for Kris then.”

Dellons’ snicker faltered slightly as Rudy winced.

“Stop edging him, Eileen. Dellons will be annoying to deal with when he’s having a fit about Kris’ potential suitor like what happened with Knox in high school,” Jave thumped the back of Eileen’s seat backrest.

“Hey, now! Why do you say _when_? Kris doesn’t have any suitor at the moment!” Dellons turned to look at Jave again, scowling.

“Oh, hush. All of you,” Rudy sighed. “We’ll just make sure that Kris is _alright_ in his… appointment. As soon as we deem his ‘new friend’ alright, we’ll leave them,” he rested his chin on the steering wheel.

“I just hope we packed enough sustenance if we’re about to do stake-out on Kris,” Spike uttered slowly, peering at a bag full of packed chips and bottled drinks beside his leg for them to consume in their—no doubt to be a long—wait for doing this ridiculous ‘trailing’.

Rudy’s sweat dropped while chuckling nervously and Jave snorted a surprised laugh at Spike’s words. Dellons just outright laughed and both Eileen and Rachel shook their head in unison, looking exasperated.

Half an hour of waiting later, Rudy spotted Kris getting out of the gate. He walked slowly to the main road after locking the gate. Kris didn’t bring any bag with him, though, so Rudy thought Kris didn’t go far.

After Kris arrived on the main road, he settled himself on a bus shelter.

“He’s taking a bus?” Dellons asked and Rudy started the engine, preparing to follow the bus after Kris got onto the bus and the bus drove away.

_Where is he going?_ —Rudy also wanted to ask out loud, and he was sure that the question was mirrored in everyone’s mind at the time. He decided to just follow the bus though, and kept his curiosity to himself for the time being.

* * *

**~A Seven Knights Fan Fiction~**

* * *

Kris got off the bus right in front of the China Town. He purposely left the silver briefcase and his extensive notes on his experiment for this meeting. He could explain to them what he was experimenting with, but he would be damned if he would be forced to hand over it to them. He just intended to hear what ‘national security’ matter that Ryuujou Rin had spoken about before and determined if it had anything to do with his experiment or not later.

Kris took his cell-phone and texted Ace that he was already at China Town and was on his way to the Floating Market. He waited for about two minutes before he got a reply telling him to go straight to the boat number 10 when he arrived there. Apparently they would be having the meeting on the boat amongst the foods and drinks floating on other smaller boats around them in the river.

When Kris got himself onboard the boat, he only saw Ace there. Kris raised his eyebrow as Ace smiled and greeted him, “Good morning, Kris. We’re going to ride the boat at the other side of the river.”

“We’re not talking here?” Kris sat down beside Ace on the soft rug splayed on the hull. He looked around. There were only them and the person that operated the boat despite the spacious size of the inner hull. Did Ace booked the entire boat for them?

“No,” Ace replied softly. “I’m afraid that this place isn’t… discreet enough to talk about what we’re going to talk about,” he coughed lightly, gesturing to indicate the person that operated the board with a subtle glance. “We’re here to eat breakfast. I assumed you haven’t eaten anything?”

Ace didn’t wait for Kris’ answer as he took some plates of food from the smaller boats outside his boat with a long staff with hook at the top. He put the plates between himself and Kris before he repeated hooking some other smaller boats for drinks.

“Besides, we want you to meet our boss first before we will indulge you and us in our curiosity toward your experiment and what it has to do with ‘our problem’,” he elaborated further and Kris nodded, opting to agree with it as he looked at the selection of foods and drinks. He wasn’t really hungry, but it was best to eat something since he didn’t know how long the meeting would run. He picked up some _dumplings_ to eat and chose a glass of fresh orange juice to drink before he settled to gaze outside the boat to the river.

It was a vast river. He wasn’t sure about the length, but it was probably over ten meters in width. The water was obviously wasn’t clean. The color was close to mud-brown rather than clear blue. Kris didn’t focus his gaze in particular view as he stared at the river, just letting himself be lulled in a soft breeze and the sway of the boat as he ate and drank.  

Before long, the boat arrived at the other side of the river and Ace gestured at him to get off. “We’re getting off here,” Ace said and Kris looked at the dock dubiously because it was obviously wasn’t the official dock for tourist to get off from the boat.

Kris didn’t question it though and followed Ace getting off. Ace paid the operator, giving _extra_ for his lenience in getting them off other than at the official assigned dock. “Follow me,” he then gestured at Kris to walk with him.

Kris followed.

* * *

**~A Seven Knight Fan Fiction~**

* * *

“This is bullshit! How could we lost him?!” Dellons shouted in annoyance in the middle of the busy street of China Town.

Rudy let out an exasperated sigh because Dellons’ sudden exclaim made a spectacle of their group to the other pedestrian. Rudy had parked the car on the parking area as soon as they knew Kris got off of the bus in front of the gates to the China Town. Car couldn’t pass the street inside China Town, so he didn’t have any choice but to drop Dellons and the others there as well before he went to park the car.

Dellons instantly divided the group. He, Rachel and Eileen got the task to immediately follow Kris’ steps while Jave and Spike waited for Rudy in front of the gates, so he could join them later. As soon as Rudy was with them, he texted Dellons where his group was and after he got a reply, he together with Spike and Jave met Dellons inside the town.

Though, apparently Dellons’ group lost their sight on Kris as soon as Kris turned at the junction to the river area.

“He couldn’t possibly hop on the boat, could he?” Eileen looked around. There were a few resting areas and restaurants around where they stood. It was possible that Kris just ducked into one of them instead of hopping on the boat, but if this ‘appointment’ was actually a date, it was most-likely that Kris was on the boat with his _date_.   

“Why would he get on a boat?” Dellons demanded, expression ridiculous. “It’s a floating market, not exactly a romantic place for a date. People are on boat to _shop_ here,” he huffed, crossing his arms on his chest.

“And to eat breakfast,” Spike said nonchalantly, earning him surprised looks from the others. “What?” he asked, since the others’ gazes at him were weird.

“Breakfast?” Jave asked, tilting his head in curiosity.

“In floating market, they sell almost everything, including breakfast, mostly for the sellers because they have to leave their house very early to secure strategic places for themselves to sell their goods. Since they can’t possibly eat breakfast before they are on board, some people dedicate their boats to sell breakfast for them. Tourists that want to enjoy their breakfast on boat can buy from them as well,” Spike explained in a matter of fact.

“Huh… I didn’t know that. Do you?” Rachel blinked, turning at the others who shook their heads looking slightly intrigued. “How do you know about that, Spike?”

“Part time job,” Spike shrugged. “Before I live with you guys, during high school.”

“Ah,” Rudy nodded, seemingly not wanting to push further explanation, yet Dellons looked about to do just that as he opened his mouth, but before he could say anything Rudy cut, “So, maybe Kris is on board.”

Dellons sent Rudy an annoyed glare. “What, having breakfast?”

“I didn’t make breakfast this morning. Maybe he is hungry,” Rudy shrugged.

“I’ll ask the staff around the dock to ask if someone like Kris is on one of their boats,” Jave rolled his eyes as he walked away. Both Rudy and Dellons seemed to just realize that they could just do that instead of wondering and speculating. Spike chuckled at Jave’s smart, fast move while Rachel and Eileen giggled at Dellons and Rudy’s dumbfounded looks.

Jave came back a few minutes later, bearing news that the staff did see a guy who looked like Kris getting on one of their boats. They said the boat was entirely booked by one person, a guy with long silver hair in black suit before Kris joined him onboard.

That did sound like Kris was having a date instead of an appointment. An entire boat just for two… It made Dellons eye twitch and Rudy to sweat slightly. Eileen covered her mouth while Rachel raised both her eyebrows in surprised looks.

“Should we get on board as well?” Jave asked.

“Did you ask when Kris got on the boat?” Spike turned to Jave.

“The boat sailed 15 minutes ago,” Jave answered.

“Then it will be better if we cross the bridge and wait for them at the other side of the river. The boat will be sailing for approximately 30 minutes before they have to get off. Unless it was booked for overtime afloat…” Spike trailed as Dellons wailed.

“Why would they need an overtime just for breakfast?!”

“Calm down. You’re getting too worked up about this, Dellons,” Rudy smacked Dellons’ back, earning a surprised, painful yelp from the blond.

“Ow…! I told you to mind your strength, you brute…!” Dellons tried to nurse his back, but his hand couldn’t reach, so Eileen consoled him instead, soothing the hard blow with her caress with a rueful chuckle.

“Well, shall we go to the other side?” Rachel piped up a short later and Spike couldn’t help his sweat rolling down his cheek at the double meaning of the other side, seeing that they had to cross the river after all.

The trip on the bridge was quiet. Well, as quiet as the tourist spot could be, though. There weren’t many people around since it was quite early in the morning, just over 9.00. They neede about 10 minutes to cross the bridge on foot and then they had to walk to the official dock where the boat would get the people off.

However, it wasn’t half the distance to the official dock that Rudy seemed to notice something in the distance, precisely, at the exit gates of China Town.

"Hey, is that Kris?" Rudy narrowed his eyes, seeming to try to see better and as he seemed to realize that whom he saw was indeed Kris, he looked worried as he spotted their friend walking together with some people that they didn't know in the distance.

"Huh… wait, who are those people?" Jave blinked once, before he start to look concerned, because Kris' expression didn't look amused.

Rachel and Eileen looked quite alarmed when they recognized those guys despite the suspicious suits and sunglasses, as if they were trying to disguise themselves. "They're the Four Lords…"

“Wait. Four Lords?” Dellons looked up, seemingly surprised as he also sharpened his gaze. A myriad of expressions crossed the blonde’s face as he muttered distractedly, “Not a date then…”

"What is he doing with them?" Eileen was visibly pale now.

In the end, a vein popped up on Dellons' head. "Hoo… that bastard Lu Bu didn't heed my warning, huh?" He was apparently irate enough to crack his knuckles, ready to punch some people.

Spike observed further and spoke when he noted that one of the guy, the slender man with long, bluish-silver hair in pony tail, put his hand on Kris' lower back and guided him to get into a _limousine_ , and Kris _let_ him. "Well, Kris doesn't seem to be unwilling either. He'd run if he really didn't want to be there."

“What… why is Kris with those people? You called them Four Lords, Rachel, Dellons?” Rudy sounded more worried now, because Dellons’ reaction was quite alarming and Rachel and Eileen expression at the time weren’t reassuring either.

“Oh boy…” Rachel sighed while Eileen looked upward in rather resigned look.

“I take the Four Lords are important people?” Jave asked, seeming mystified and Spike himself wanted some answer about that.

“Troublesome people,” Rachel, Eileen and Dellons said at the same time before they looked at each other.

“We should sit down and talk about them then,” Spike suggested.

“Nah, we ought to follow them. I have a feeling that they’re about to cause some nasty problems for Kris,” Dellons cracked his knuckles again, smirking slightly. He didn’t seem about to relent to other suggestions and since he said it would cause Kris problems… of course Rudy’s reaction was predictable.

“I’ll get the car,” he said, face becoming serious as he turned 180 degrees to fetch the rental car.

“We should wait for Rudy at the exit gate then,” Eileen suggested.

“I’ll follow their limo first then,” Dellons started running, not even bothering to wait for his friends. “I’ll send the G map on their location later!” he shouted as he ran as fast as he could to catch up with the limousine that started to drive away.

Spike looked at Jave and then at Eileen and Rachel. “While we wait for Rudy at the gate, would you tell us about those Four Lords?” he asked the girls and they looked at each other briefly, seeming to communicate with their eyes, before they turned to face Spike and Jave and started to explain…

**End of Round 6**

**Tbc…**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh… sorry, had to cut it here. The word count was getting crazy. And the story dragged longer than my initial thought. I hope you guys aren’t bored to tears reading it ^^;. Anyway… comments?
> 
> **Teaser:**
> 
> “You’re telling me… that around our boarding house is covered with spots to generate magnetic field energy, strong enough to open a portal to the other world?” If Kris sounded incredulous as he said it, it was because he felt incredulous about the theory.
> 
> “Not exactly strong enough to do that,” the man said, sounding mildly amused, but mostly serious. “The usual activity of the field is monitored tightly and those spots never spiked energy in the level like last month before, so you tell me, Kris Tenebra. What did you do last month that made those spots react and generate so much energy in alarming such level?” 
> 
> Kris couldn’t exactly tell him, them, but for the sake of garnering more information, he had to say something plausible that could be the cause of this anomaly


	8. Round 7: Confrontation 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kris is brought to a facility. Dellons and the others don't take that kindly at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, Knights! Meet me again in a new round for this story. I am sorry, it took me so long to post it. But fear not, fellow Knights! We're almost there… err… I mean, not the end yet, no, but what follows after the confrontation~… there's a climax here, somewhere, I swear (even though I haven't seen how this story might end), besides, I need to incorporate some more Rudy/Kris or Dellons/Kris here as well… Oh well, it will come later. Anyway, enough with my rambling. Here's the 7th Round… FIGHT!
> 
> **Disclaimer and Warning: _See prologue…_ Also, pseudo-science ** (please don't take it seriously. I make them all up and even though it sounds plausible, it's not. It doesn't make any sense, trust me). Alright, please carry on.

**A Gift from A Far Away World—a Seven Knights Fan fiction**

© lunaryu

**Round 7:** _**Confrontation 2** _

* * *

Kris wasn't exactly impressed when three other Four Lords met them just outside the exit gate of the China Town, but it wasn't unexpected. Ace did say that they wanted Kris to meet their boss, so it was typical if all the Four Lords would be present with him there. Still…

"Why are you all dressed like body guards?" Kris' left eye twitched, unable to really fathom the sharp, black suits, the sunglasses, the _bowties_?—why in the world did they need bowties? Couldn't simple black ties be enough? Even Ryuujou Rin wore it as if it were part of her every day clothes.

Impending virtual headache aside, Kris couldn't help feeling second-hand embarrassment just by standing with them, _near_ them. It was ridiculous and suspicious as hell. Besides, even without the absurd getup, they were already copiously conspicuous, what with Lu Bu's almost 2 meters height (like a giant), Goku's blithely slouching pose (like a _yankee_ ) and Rin's regally drinking a cup of tea (like a queen) at the roadside. Even _those_ still couldn't compare when they showed up with _that getup_.

Kris didn't miss the weird stare their group received from the pedestrian around them. An Asian child even pointed at them and his mother immediately shushed him, telling him not to point, even as far as saying not to get involve with those _strange_ people.

Kris got an urge to face-palm, but he held himself alright. He glared at the four people who were with him instead, expecting some kind of answer, but not hoping much for a reasonable one.

"It's our uniform," Goku casually replied, yawning and stretching his limbs slightly before he straightened his back. Then he faced Kris with a grin. "Cool, right?" he lowered his sunglasses a bit, revealing his rich brown eyes glinting with mischief.

Kris scoffed lightly. "I'm surprised you're not embarrassed," he rolled his eyes as he looked at the other three, expecting Ace to at least look a bit self-conscious, but the sliver-bluish haired guy just chuckled as he put his matching-with-his-friends suit back on. Apparently he had taken it off when he was on the boat earlier so he wouldn't wrinkle it. Kris scowled at him before he turned his gaze to Rin and Lu Bu.

"We should move now," the bulky, red haired man said, not even deeming Kris' obviously valid query important enough to provide him with any response.

"I agree with Lu Bu," Rin spoke calmly, putting her cup of tea aside in a metal box— _a tea set compartment?_ —hanging on her arm. "We wouldn't want to make Boss wait any longer."

Before Kris could get his demand out of who this boss they were talking about, a limousine materialized in front of them, making Kris blink because he honestly hadn't noticed any car right there before. _Since when…?—_ he was about to ask out loud, but was once again cut with the feel of someone's hand on his _lower back_.

Kris nearly yelped, not used at all with such intimate gesture, especially not from any stranger. No one, except maybe Rudy and Dellons, had the gall to do that to Kris. He was about to snap at the person that violated his personal space so boldly, with an elbow to their stomach when the limousine middle passenger door opened and familiar voice greeted him.

"Come inside, Kris," he said from the front seat and Kris' eyes widened as he saw the gray hair, the sunglasses and the branded, indigo colored suits.

" _Pascal?_ " Kris was honestly shocked, disbelieving his own sight as he saw his landlord's face, but the pressure on his lower back pushed him to get into the car and he seemed to have no choice as his body moved to accommodate the silent but very clear order.

Kris couldn't stop staring at Pascal who just gave him a knowing grin as Ace seated himself beside Kris while Rin sat at the other side of him, coming in from the other door. He noticed from the corner of his eyes that Lu Bu and Goku got on the back seats before all doors were closed. Kris was completely trapped from all angles. Running away didn't seem to be an option anymore now.

"Before you question anything, Kris, we should go to the place where we can talk more freely without being feared of getting eavesdropped," Pascal warned and then nudged the guy on the driver seat to start driving. "Before that, you may speculate anything you want silently."

Kris wanted to do that. _Speculate_. But there were too many things running inside his head right now, too many questions of _why_ and _how,_ but mostly _what the hell?!_ —Kris silently freaked out because this was Pascal, and judging from the formal way the Four Lords addressed him, he was most likely _the boss_ they wanted Kris to meet.

But Pascal was his landlord. His landlord was supposed to be a real-estate agent. He couldn't possibly a secret leader of some kind of government or _criminal_ organization, right? _RIGHT?_

Kris couldn't help stewing inside his head. There were too many things that he _didn't know_. Even without being _this world_ Kris, he doubted that his counterpart would know what was going on either in this situation. He had no reference for this. He couldn't conjure up any solution by speculating without all the facts. He didn't even know if Pascal was his landlord's real identity.

Despite inwardly panicking, Kris did the only sensible thing he knew that wouldn't put his life in danger. He kept his mouth shut, masking his shock and alarm with false indifference that had been ingrained inside _him_ (his counterpart) by his family since he was a child in case he had ever met situation as bad as _kidnapping_ or being _a hostage in arm robbery_ or in _any life-threatening_ situations.

This might potentially be one of those circumstances after all.

* * *

**~A Seven Knight Fan Fiction~**

* * *

Dellons kept tailing the limousine a few meters ahead of him. It was fortunate that the street was quite crowded at this time of the day, especially during vacation week, that the limousine couldn't drive off in its potential speed. It periodically had to stop because of other vehicles in front of it and the usually annoying traffic light was proven to be a bless in disguise since it kept it possible for Dellons to track the limo.

However, the main crowded road was almost over in approximately a mile ahead. After that were a few junctions, _less crowded streets_ , and if Rudy couldn't get their car in time to pick Dellons up for advanced tailing, they would lose the limo for good.

"Come on, Rudy…!" Dellons sent Rudy the GPS coordinate and waited for a few minutes as the limo started to move again. He clicked his tongue and followed, intending to send the updated position when the limo stopped again later. Though, Dellons didn't get a chance to do that as their rental car was suddenly at his side and Rudy opened the passenger door at the front and motioned Dellons to get in.

"Took you long enough," Dellons grouched, but silently he sighed in relief as he was seated on and buckled up his safety belt.

"Sorry, crowded traffic," Rudy sent him an apologetic smile.

"So, how is Kris?" Rachel's voice from behind Dellons asked and Dellons looked upward at the front mirror to see her slightly concerned look. Eileen was beside her with matching worried expression. Jave was behind the girls, still with slightly bemused face and Spike looked notably calm for situation such as this. Though, it was warranted since Spike did say that Kris didn't seem unwilling when he was led by Ace to the limousine.

Dellons didn't like that fact at all.

Just a few weeks prior, Kris didn't want anything to do with those Four Lords, but why did he decide to hang out with them now? Even missing out time to bond with his housemates, obviously distancing himself from Rudy; it was very weird and Dellons didn't like the thought of Kris choosing _other people_ instead of their circle of friends no matter how possessive that might sound.

_There must be other reasons…_

But it opened up a second can of worm which implied that Kris kept _secrets_ he was unwilling to share with his friends. The reason could be numerous. However, if Kris was adamant to keep his friends in the dark about it, it was most likely a _dangerous_ one; one that could potentially be _life-threatening,_ and although it was rather extreme of an assumption, Dellons _knew_ Kris well and the silver platinum blond wouldn't keep secrets from them unless it was with extreme reason like that.

_Besides, judging from the Four Lords' background… it's not impossible_.

"Well, how is it?" Eileen's rather impatient tone pulled Dellons' back from his silent musing. He just realized that he hadn't answered Rachel's question before he fell into his wondering thought.

"I don't know. I didn't see him from outside the limo. Don't ask such stupid question," Dellons didn't actually mean to be an ass about it, but it annoyed him that he didn't know the answer himself, so his bad habit came out.

Eileen scowled at him angrily and Rachel visibly rolled her eyes at him. Dellons was back in his own head while Rudy kept taciturn as he drove following the limo, only time to time, he glanced at Dellons and at his other friends on the middle and the back seats.

"Does anyone have any information on the Four Lords?" Rudy asked a few minutes of heavy silence later. Rachel and Eileen visibly perked at that and proceeded to give him information about what they knew of those people. Dellons listened to them with half an ear as he himself recollected and compiled some information he had gotten about them from their prior background check.

"Are they dangerous, Dellons?" Rudy addressed Dellons specifically now and he turned to Rudy seriously.

"They _are_ ," Dellons nodded without hesitancy and Rudy's expression turned grave.

"Do you think they wish Kris any harm?" Jave's voice from the back snapped them out from palpable tension that had built since they noticed Kris had willingly gone with those people.

Everyone became quiet at the inquiry then.

"We don't know that, right? I mean, alright, the Four Lords can be dangerous, heck, they could be _mutants_ or whatever, but we don't know if they are bad people. Have they done something that endangers others?" Jave continued, offering his own opinion, an _objective_ one to boot, since he had no point of reference for who the Four Lords were and what they were capable of doing with their influence, but he was obviously willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Innocent unless proven guilty.

Dellons couldn't believe he would think this, but Jave had a point. Dellons had spent his whole life suspecting other people's motives and seeing their bad side that he forgot how to hope to see the good part. He never tried, period. It was Rudy's specialty with his naïve ideas and thinking, and Dellons' duty was to dig deeper, _further_ , looking for skeletons and weaknesses that he could use to put them at their place when those people tried to double-cross Rudy and his friends. It was a working system in their circle and Dellons always fell into his role superbly whenever they had _new_ acquaintances.

Now though, because Kris was involved, Rudy's gift was rather dulled. Obviously, since Kris was a person of interest. If it was Rachel's or Eileen's, or Spike's or Jave's or even Dellons', especially if it was _Dellons'_ , he would accept them with open arms, believing they had only good intentions for all parties involved without any ulterior motives. Dellons almost forgot how significant Kris was to affect Rudy's perspective.

"Jave is right," Spike spoke out Dellons and probably everyone else's thought after that little speech. "We should just wait until Kris tells us what's going on. They can't be that bad if Kris decides to hang out with them. Who knows? They might be useful someday when we need them to do a favor for us." He shrugged lightly and that was so Spike with all the calculated beneficiary thrown inside.

Dellons couldn't help snorting at that, thinking it was very funny, and Rudy chuckled beside him, followed almost immediately with Rachel and Eileens' united giggles and Jave's fit of laughter. The tension dissipated almost immediately after that, and only lingered curiosity was left at the end.

"I'd say we ought to still follow them, just in case." Dellons winked, but with a playful smirk now instead of an apprehensive sneer.

"Oh well, we do have free time to ourselves after all." Rudy smiled as he focused once more on the road and the limousine two cars ahead of theirs.

"Oh, I know! Let's play 'mission impossible' then, to pass the time! It's fitting the occasion!" Jave exclaimed suddenly, voice higher and sounding excited.

The others instantly groaned both mentally and physically as they collectively agreed that it was indeed like a spy work, tailing and stalking their mark, like in MI movie.

* * *

**~A Seven Knights Fan Fiction~**

* * *

Half an hour later, the limousine finally went inside a parking lot of specific building in a remote area, slightly away from the main road, hidden from prying eyes because it was surrounded by other taller and bigger buildings.

_It is quite secluded_ —Kris thought as he noted the tall gates and the strategically placed bushes. The 'parking lot' wasn't exactly a parking lot because even though it went underground at the first outer building, it was immediately exposed once again once it passed it. Kris could see the sky and the garden around the car as it glided on a smooth paved road before it stopped right outside another building with shorter gate.

There was some kind of panel on the stone part of the gate and it scanned the car before the gate automatically opened for the car to go through.

Inside the gate was a two stories building in square shape, made mostly of some kind of metal… or metallic colored alloy. Kris couldn't know without touching it. As the car stopped once again, now in front of the main door of the building, the driver killed the car engine before Pascal got out of the car, immediately followed by the Four Lords.

Kris was purposely stalling as he looked outside the door suspiciously. Ace rolled his eyes after a couple of minutes and grabbed Kris' wrist before tugging at him to hurry up and get out of the limo. Kris sighed, resigned to his fate as he got out.

"So, where are we?" Kris finally asked as he was led to climb the stone stairs leading to the entrance of the building, yet once again was ignored. He grumbled as he finally stepped inside. All the party members were scanned first after they passed the front door. There was a guard in the same suits as the Four Lords near the body scanner, who received some dubious items from them before they went through it.

_They actually bring guns with them… Where did they hide them earlier? And were those actual government-issued badges? Why didn't they just show me that the first time around they talked to me? And what are those pen-like things? Cameras? Recorders? Tasers?_ —Kris frowned as he eyed the pen-like shaped objects while the guard checked those things over before he handed them back to the respective owners after they passed the body-scanning.

Still, inwardly parboiling with alarming questions aside, Kris couldn't help glancing at the silent guard that had checked them as well. The man was quite tall, not as tall as Kris, though, probably around two inches shorter, with long dark hair—being tied in loose pony tail— and pale skin. His built leant into a slender side, though under that suit he was no doubt hiding wiry muscles. Kris couldn't see his eye color because of the darn sunglasses, but he got a feeling that he _knew_ him somewhere… and if his original world memory had supplied him with the right information, the guy probably had dark sapphire colored irises.

_The Night Crow?_ —Kris guessed and discreetly glanced at the tag stuck on the man's chest: _'Kurogarasu, Teo'_. Kris was right. It really was Teo the Night Crow from Aisha. Then he openly stared at the long haired man, increasingly becoming cagy as it was his turn to get scanned. He only brought his cell phone and wallet. There was no incriminating object with him, but if he was forced to leave his phone behind, it would mean he was totally _alone_ in this without any mean to contact outside world lest something undesirable happened inside.

"Your phone, please," Teo said, sternly but still polite enough, as if he had read Kris' mind before Kris was able to formulate a plan to hide the communication device.

Oh, well, it was not unexpected if this place was really a secret government facility. If the security was less tight than this, Kris would be even more doubtful of their real identities. It was standard, he guessed. Kris, though reluctantly, gave Teo what he had asked for, plus his wallet too for a good measure and a sign that he was cooperating.

Then, when Kris stepped under the body scanner, the alarm promptly went off.

Kris, and most likely all the personnel in his vicinity, cringed at the over-loudness of the blaring alarm. Even Pascal had to cover his ears while shouting to turn the blasted thing off.

"For God's sake. Haven't this thing volume-control repaired yet?" Pascal scowled right after Teo killed the switch of the body scanner.

"I don't know what happened. It functioned normally before," Teo said as he explained that it wasn't the first time that the alarm went off that day upon finding less-approved object on some personnel as they forgot to remove the micro-camera cuff-link from their under suit shirt when they went through body scanner. "It didn't go off as loud as that." He seemed bemused as he eyed the scanner dubiously.

Kris couldn't help swallowing uncomfortably as Teo shifted his skeptical gaze at him after that. "I don't bring anything _dangerous_ with me," Kris said, almost defensively, reacting to that look.

"I still need to body-check you manually," Teo sighed, like it was a hassle, and Kris agreed wholeheartedly about it being a total inconvenience, especially for Kris.

"You want me to undress _here_?" Kris crossed his arms on his chest, lifting one of his eyebrows high enough to look indignant, but still sounding somewhat unruffled. Pascal couldn't help chuckling along with the Four Lords at Kris' rather cheeky words as Teo gave Kris unimpressed stare.

"No need to be sarcastic. I'm just going to pat you down," Teo huffed and gestured at Kris to walk toward him. "Come here for a second."

"…Fine," Kris dropped his pose after a few more seconds of persistent defiance. He went to Teo and stood still in front of him as Teo instructed Kris to spread both of his arms in a T shape before he started patting.

It was very uncomfortable. Stranger's hands on Kris' body, gliding, searching, even though it was above clothes, Kris couldn't help feeling slightly violated somehow. In went not more than five minutes and in the end as Kris said, Teo couldn't find any object that could make the alarm blare like earlier on Kris body.

"Satisfied?" Kris glared at Teo, crossing his arms again after the body pat was done. He was ignored, though. The guy didn't even apologize for the discomfort he had caused Kris.

"Maybe it really did malfunction then," Teo tilted his head aside as he wrote something down on a sheet of paper on his desk near the scanner.

"Call the IT to repair it," Pascal instructed as he waltzed around the scanner, but before he could leave, Teo grabbed his arm with his free hand, stopping him.

"I need to body check you as well, Sir," the guard didn't even spare Pascal a glance as he continued writing when he said this.

The Four Lords tried to stifle their laughter at Teo's unperturbed boldness, at Pascal's flush of discomfiture and at Kris' disbelieving stare.

"Is he allowed to do that?" Kris couldn't help asking the party near him as Teo performed his duty in checking over Pascal despite the guy's grumpiness.

"It's Teo's job," Ace answered, shrugging slightly, but Kris noticed the fond tone and gaze as he looked at Teo.

_Huh._

"Ace has a crush on _him_ ," Goku whispered conspiratorially near Kris' ear.

"I heard that," Ace turned his sharp glare at Goku who immediately whistled while crossing his hands on the back of his head, feigning innocence.

"Well, I think you have a great taste. Teo does look very _cool_ ," Rin quipped, joining in the merry fun of teasing Ace whose face gradually turned pink.

"Shut up." Ace, looking annoyed and embarrassed, huffed at the knowingly smiling woman and the snickering brown haired man. Lu Bu just rolled his eyes slightly at the commonly juvenile bicker they fell into, apparently.

When Kris watched their easy banter with each other, he couldn't help picturing his own circle of friends. So even those agents acted like their actual age when they were together, as _friends_ instead of colleagues. They were not very different from Kris and his circle of friends. There was a part of them that valued their time and life as students and it somehow brought a small smile on Kris' face.

_They are dangerous, yes, but not that bad_ —Kris decided he could lower his guard down a little bit as he saw them in such setting.

Though, Kris couldn't say the same thing about Pascal. The guy had hidden his real identity from Kris and his friends and posed as their landlord for over a year. He hoped Pascal hadn't been spying on them all this time… _Oh my God, is there any hidden camera or listening device in our house?_ —Suddenly Kris became much more uncomfortable as the thought crossed his mind. All their conversations, their escapades inside the house… What if they were even being spied on inside their bedrooms? Kris felt slightly sick now.

"What's wrong, Kris? You look rather pale," Rin seemed to be the first to notice Kris' changing mood for the worst.

Kris was silent for a moment before he uttered his suspicion honestly. "No, well… it just suddenly occurred to me that Pascal _is_ your boss, some kind of government agent, and _my_ landlord. His house must have been littered with hidden cameras and listening devices… without _us_ knowing their existence and _our privacy must have been violated_ at some point."

It was a warranted worry, and Kris was really sure that it was, in fact, true. So he was immensely relieved when the Four Lords instantly denied it.

"We wouldn't need you here if that was true," Lu Bu huffed, looking a bit offended at Kris' accusation.

"It's because we _don't know_ what's going on in that house that we need to speak to you," Goku seconded, though a bit more understanding of Kris' notion.

"We promise that we will only be asking some questions we hope you might know the answers of. We never intend to harm you or your friends," Ace assured, seeming to catch up on why Kris was so worried and untrustworthy of them.

"We only need your cooperation, Kris. It is to _protect_ our people after all," Rin smiled at Kris kindly, harmlessly, _convincingly_. It got the hair on his nape to stand on wits-end for some reason.

_To protect our people…_

How far would someone go to do that? Governments or civilians, knights or pheasants, nobles or commoners, they were all the same. Even Kris knew how far mankind would go to _protect_ something important for them.

_As long as our capabilities allow… as far as possible._

"That's what I fear most," Kris muttered lowly, too low to be heard by anyone but himself.

* * *

**~A Seven Knights Fan Fiction~**

* * *

Rudy was slightly hesitant when he was faced with the first building he saw the limo they had been following enter the basement driveway.

"Why are we stopping at the roadside again?" Dellons asked, turning to Rudy with raised eyebrows.

"I'm not sure how to follow them further. The limo entered that building driveway possibly to the basement parking lot. There's a guard at the driveway corner. What are we going to tell the guard when we pass him?" Rudy explained, as well as asking for a clue how to proceed from this point from his friends.

"What building is that anyway?" Eileen craned her neck slightly, jutting her body to invade Rachel's side of seat, probably wanting to see if there was any sign with a name on it from the window.

"Eileen, just let me do that, and please stop cornering me to the door," Rachel huffed and pushed her friend to back off before she herself looked outside the window closest to her, clearly intending to look for the sign as well.

Jave also looked outside the window while Spike didn't seem to bother, and opened his phone instead. Dellons was quiet as he stared at the tall building, his baby blue eyes sharp, seeming to try to assess the place, most likely trying to find other entrances that didn't have any guard.

"I should scout it first," the blond said suddenly, grasping the door-handle before pulling it in, opening the door, to the others' surprise.

"You want to get off here and go there by foot?" Rudy asked, a bit confused.

"It will be more natural if I walk there and ask the guard what building it is with a pretense that I am lost than bringing all of you with a car there and force our way in, right? I can pretend to lose my phone and is in need to borrow theirs too if I want to scout _inside_ the building. It's more discreet," Dellons explained the matter of fact as if he were talking about the weather.

Rudy's (and probably the others as well) sweat dropped slightly, thinking that Dellons seemed to be very used to doing these kind of things as if he did it all the times. Well, judging from Dellons' past escapades and reputation, he probably did.

Rudy consciously glanced at his other friends, asking with his eyes whether it was wise to agree with Dellons' idea, but before they could answer his silent query, Dellons already took their decision with his own hand as he climbed out of the car. He didn't look like he needed his friends' approval to do what he thought was best to do in such situation anyway.

"Dellons!" Before Dellons closed the door, Rudy called him once again, frowning deeply. "Don't do anything dangerous," he warned and Dellons just smirked at him with a slightly disturbing glint in his eyes.

"Rudy, when do I ever disappoint your expectation?" the blond asked a rhetoric question because _everyone_ knew exactly what the answer was. _Never._

But that expectation was something that always filled Rudy's feeling with dread, because he expected Dellons to do _everything that was risqué_ to get what he wanted, and no matter how many times he berated the blond for it, he never heeded Rudy's warning seriously. It sounded like a bell of doom ringing as Dellons closed the door and Rudy couldn't help sighing in resignation.

"He's going to do something really bad, isn't he?" Jave quipped, reading Rudy's peeved expression correctly. The others sighed as well, seeming to mentally prepare themselves for the worst scenario as beads of sweat rolled down their cheeks, completely in agreement with both Rudy and Jave's sentiment, except maybe Spike who was still fiddling with his phone.

"Kris's phone is off," he said a few seconds later and everyone's gaze was instantly on him. "It's out of service and my call went straight to his voice mail." Spike finally locked his phone once again and looked upward to meet his friends' eyes.

"What?" Rudy got even more apprehensive hearing it. Kris never turned his phone off after all, unless he was charging it at home, but he was _not_ right now, so Kris turning his phone off meant he was forced to do so or there was a jamming signal that rendered the phone useless.

"That doesn't sound comforting," Eileen commented, wearing a worried look as well.

"Of course it doesn't! Kris never turns his phone off outside!" Jave exclaimed, his voice sounding a notch higher than usual. He sounded slightly panicked even, 180 degrees different from the Jave that spoke his _objective_ opinion about the possibility of the Four Lords not wanting to do harm to Kris.

"I don't like this. Why does Kris need to turn his phone off inside the building? What are they doing inside?" Rachel mumbled out loud, her voice and expression somber and grim.

Spike was silent, but his slight frown told everyone that he was worried as well. They were obviously dying to know if Kris was alright and with no other way to answer their questions and worries, they could only count on Dellons and his solo scouting, hoping that their worry was baseless and that Kris would get out of there in one piece.

* * *

**~ A Seven Knight Fan Fiction~**

* * *

Kris was brought to a specific room at the second floor, and then was told to sit down on one of the chairs at the rectangle table in the middle of the room. The room walls were painted with soft cream-color and quite bare sans the linoleum table and chairs in the middle, a projector hung on the equally creamy colored ceiling, and three white screen were stationed at the front, the right and the left sides of the table and chairs.

Someone was already waiting in the room when they got there. At the closer look, Kris recognized the man in equally dark suits with the Four Lords as the driver that drove the limo earlier. He indeed discreetly removed himself faster than the others after he was checked by Teo at the entrance earlier, but Kris just thought that that was because he wasn't needed further in their discussion. It seemed that Kris had made a premature assumption again.

That man, the driver, was probably in his thirties with silver-gray hair like Pascal, reaching just slightly above his shoulders in length, wavy, bordering into curly even at the bottom part. His irises were light green with specks of yellow around his pupils. Kris didn't know why he noticed this thing about him. His expression was pretty neutral, but despite his handsome face, he kind of reminded Kris a lot to a snake. Kris didn't think he could trust him even if his life depended on it.

"Oh, Bai Jiao is here already. Good." Pascal said, walking to the man and patted his shoulder lightly before he turned to Kris. "Kris, meet my assistant, Bai Jiao. He' my driver most of the time, but he doubles as my PA and my body guard," he introduced the man and Kris nodded at him slightly, not wanting to shake his hand.

"How do you do," he said.

Bai Jiaou gave him a small smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Nice to meet you, Kris Tenebra," he replied. There was a hint of sneer in his tone, but it was probably just Kris' imagination because Bai Jiao was quick to turn to face Pascal once again to talk to him quetly, before Kris could analyze his speech further.

Ace tapped Kris' shoulder once, a gesture for him to hurry and sit down. Kris chose the chair at the right side corner. Even though he couldn't face the door in case he needed to run away at a moment notice, at least there would be no one sitting at his right side, so if he needed to move fast, there would be no one blocking his path.

The Four Lords seemed to immediately notice his choice of seat like they knew exactly why. They just gave him a wry smile and shook their heads as they also sat down. Ace was at his left side, followed by Rin, Lu Bu and Goku.

"Alright then, I trust Kris already knew you guys?" Pascal immediately addressed his subordinates the moment he sat down and they confirmed it in unison with a single nod. "Good, now that Bai Jiao was already introduced, we can start our discussion." Pascal flicked his thumb and middle finger and a full colored image was immediately displayed on the white screens on their three sides.

Kris stared at the image. It was some kind of logo that he didn't recognize, but the line of smaller images bellow the main logo… he knew them, well, most of them, arranging from CIA, NSA, Interpol, MI6, KGB and any other international intelligence organizations' logos from any other nations that Kris couldn't name one by one.

"We're _the Empire_ ," Pascal said, pronouncing the name excruciatingly slow, as clearly as possible, as if Kris was just a five year old kid that couldn't spell the word. Kris wasn't impressed at all, especially because he had never heard of such organization before. _Maybe they're really a criminal organization instead of a government's_ —Kris decided out of spite.

"Your dubious look is very telling," Goku snickered and that earned him a slap on the back of the head from Lu Bu beside him. "Hey!" the brunet protested and Lu Bu only glared at him to shut up.

"I presumed you never heard of us before," Pascal ignored the minor squabble and continued and Kris shook his head, giving him a chance to elaborate. "Well, it's a long story to tell our history, especially to a civilian, but in a short way, we're a secret organization inside multiple secret organizations."

… _A bunch of traitorous individuals from their secret organizations flocking together forming another secret organization, you mean?_ —Kris wanted to retort, but thought the better of it and just raised one of his eyebrows, prompting Pascal to say _more_.

"As you can see, we're from various ethnicities from various countries. We're working as a _private_ sector of secret organizations."

_Private?_ —Kris narrowed his eyes. "Who are you answering to?" He couldn't help asking. Private organization had to have a single boss. He needed to know who it was.

Pascal seemed to already anticipate the question because he only smiled at him. "Ourselves," he said and Kris clicked his tongue.

"Bull," Kris retorted sharply. " _Someone_ must have been running this organization if it's as big as you claim." Otherwise, where would they get funding for their operation?

"Oh, but who said we're big?" Pascal grinned and Kris sent him an annoyed glare. The guy didn't make any sense.

"You're a bunch of individuals from various international secret organizations. The sheer numbers of those logos bellow your _Empire_ already send a clear message of how big your organization is," Kris argued.

Pascal chuckled. "Yes, but only _one person_ from each secret organization is in the Empire. We only move in a specific area of intelligence, and if you're asking about how we _pay_ for our operation, of course we get our funding from those other organizations that create _us_ ," he explained further and Kris was slightly taken aback by this.

So, those secret organizations were aware of this Empire organization… But some of those organizations were enemies, right? What could possibly make them agree to create and support another secret organization which members could potentially leak their nation' secrets to another?

"What specific area?" Kris carefully worded his question, choosing to focus on one part first instead of clumping them all together messily. Besides, he doubted they would explain the funding procedure of a secret organization inside multiple secret organizations to a civilian like him anyway.

"Inter-dimensional shifting," Bai Jiao punctually answered the question as he clicked on a mouse that connected to the laptop in front of him and the logo on the screen broke into millions of shards that created another image with a specific point on the bottom and then branched into multiple lines and points as it went upward.

"Inter-dimensional _what_?" Kris couldn't help staring at the image as he asked this question, trying to understand the relation of the dotted images and Bai Jiao's explanation.

"Are you aware of the theory of alternate realities?" Bai Jiao asked and Kris nodded.

"It's a theory which believes that our world is constructed from multiple realities depending of our choices of conduct at a specific time. For example, at this moment, I, in this reality, choose to sit here and hear this explanation, but there is another reality, at the same exact time as this moment, that I am not here because I choose not to come with you guys. These realities can be similar and yet slightly different, or totally different depending on the choices made, and it causes the future to branch into multiple realities which are separated by time and space that absolutely can't integrate with each other, but sometimes can be seen in glimpse by the individual who makes the choices of experience, in a form of _dejavu_."

"Impressive," Pascal smirked. "You indeed study theoretical physic diligently, huh?"

"There's no proof that it's true, though, despite the belief." Kris said again, not minding the praise. "Other theories blatantly deny it, since it's proven by theory of relativity that time can't move backward, so there is no way for someone to come back to a point of his life to make another choice he already made in the first place, so it remains theoretical because there's no way to test it."

"You're right. There's no way someone can revisit a past event, but it's actually possible to move from present event to _another present event_ ," Bai Jiao said as he added something to the branches image on the screen, some kind of barrier between the branches that separated individual branch from each other. "What if the 'time and space' that separate those multiple realities are made from some kind of _energy_ , let's say… _magnetic energy_ , acting like a thick dimensional _veil_ , a border between one reality and the others?"

Kris blinked. ' _Time and space' is a form of magnetic energy?_ —this was the first time he heard that.

"What do you think will happen if there's another, larger magnetic energy that crashes into the veil, overpowering it?" Bai Jiao added another symbols on the image, a single point arrow, striking into the border, _veil_ in the image.

"… It could… tear it apart, forming a passage between realities…" Kris was a bit astounded as he was discerning this theory. Sure, he had never heard it, but if they treated 'time and space' as a form of energy, a _barrier_ , then larger energy indeed could break it apart, or at least bend it to create some kind of opening to let object go through from one reality to another.

"Yes, and _that_ is a way for one reality to _shift_ to another reality, a.k.a. inter-dimensional shifting." Bai Jiao confirmed. "It can affect only one person… or _more_ ," at this explanation, there was a star-formed object in the image that moved from a branch to the branch beside it through the 'hole' in the barrier which had been torn by the arrow.

Kris was quiet for a few minutes as he contemplated this. "You guys… are researching on this reality shifting?" he asked slowly after that.

"We're not researching it. We're _monitoring_ it," Bai Jiao removed the branches image entirely from the screen and opened another images. A Map. America Continent map, to be exact. There was no name in each state and area, but there were _a lot_ of red dots that blipped on it. "These blipping dots are some spots in the entire America Continent that have potential magnetic energy to overpower the energy of 'the dimensional veil'," he said, explaining further, "There are more in the entire planet, but we're in America right now, so we'll make it an example."

"So many?" Kris almost dropped his jaw at the multiple blips. Some were bigger than the others and there were four red blips that stood out most amongst them all. He actually wanted to ask how they could find them, what kind of criteria they used to measure the energy, but Kris didn't think they would be willing to share their method without some kind of payment since this had been a very well-kept secret (no journal had ever mentioned this theory before after all). Kris was already in a lot of trouble as it was, he didn't need to add to his problem by poking and sniffing around their mysterious technique.

More importantly, looking at those four biggest, blipping red dots on the map, Kris got an awful feeling that he _knew_ where they were.

"Are those…?" Kris hesitantly gestured at those dots blipping on Manhattan Island, especially, at New York.

"Yes," Bai Jiao said, enlarging the map to focus on those four dots. "Can you recognize the specific area where those biggest dots are centered on?" he asked, clicking some more to change it into satellite image that pinpointed it to suburban area in New York which was probably the smallest part of the metropolitan city that still had enough greenery to enjoy. And at that suburban area was where Kris' boarding house stood and those red blipping dots were surrounding it.

Kris could feel his blood draining a little from his face before a denial struck him instantly.

"You're telling me… that around our boarding house is covered with spots to generate magnetic energy field, strong enough to open a portal to the other world?" If Kris sounded incredulous as he said it, it was because he felt incredulous about the theory despite the exposition before it.

"Actually, _no._ Not exactly strong enough to do that," the silver haired man said, sounding mildly amused, but mostly serious. "The usual activity of the field is monitored tightly by _us_ and those spots never spiked energy in the level like _these_ in this past month, before. So you tell me, Kris Tenebra. What did you do last month that made those spots react and generate so much energy in such alarming level?"

Bai Jiao closed the image and the screen went white once again. Kris took a deep breath before he exhaled it slowly, trying very hard not to reveal his true reaction, mostly panicky.

Apparently, it was indeed his counterpart's experiment that caused the _reality shifting_. It was not black magic or something supernatural from his original reality, it was _science_ from this reality that caused the disturbance in time and space continuum. Kris wasn't transferred into another world, he merely shifted from his _original_ reality to _this_ reality because his counterpart created and activated the device he had built in his basement.

The device itself didn't have anything to do with space and time continuum. It was merely acting as an enhancer of energy. Counterpart Kris must have thought that the energy enhancer could strengthen other energies. At other applications, it could enhance energy of heat, electricity, _magnet_ , any form of energy at all, and indeed it could change the world if it was developed further to enhance rare energy that had been _dying_ , and he was successful when he activated the device. He just _didn't know_ about _those red blipping spots around the house,_ that his device inevitably also enhanced those magnetic field energy to such extreme level that it tore apart the 'magnetic energy that acted as a dimensional veil' of this reality. In result, counterpart Kris' reality shifted, and to balance the 'hollow space' of this reality that counterpart Kris left behind, the original Kris from Asgar was pulled into _this reality_.

This was… _not exactly_ a disaster. If Kris activated the device once again, there was a chance that he could shift _this_ reality back into his reality in Asgar. But he wouldn't know whether or not he would change reality to his original reality. If the theory of multiple realities were true, there would also be other realities beside this reality and Asgar reality. How would Kris know which reality was his Asgar reality then? He needed more research about this and a specific way to aim for specific reality that he wanted to visit.

" _Well?_ "

Kris snapped out of his inner musing at Pascal's rather impatient word. Apparently he had been silent for too long and everyone was still waiting for his answer about what he had done that caused the energy of those spots to spike like that.

Kris couldn't exactly tell him, _them_ , but for the sake of garnering more information, he had to say something plausible that could be the cause of this anomaly. "I'm not sure," he finally said, a bit hesitantly. "Is this why you guys want to know about my experiment that I did in the basement last month?" he turned his answer into another question mainly to stall as he was thinking about what to tell them about his experiment.

Actually, Kris didn't only build the device when he was doing his experiment. There was another experiment, a _tamer_ one that he did which also had nothing to do with space and time continuum. It was a pet project he had developed since he was in high school, a form of stress relief that he often did when he was out of idea for his other direr, more important projects.

Kris had been building an AI. The design and programs were written in detail in those papers that he found together with the briefcase. There was also a 10 inches sized note-book in the briefcase kept along with the enhancer energy device. Counterpart Kris was building his AI in the note-book. The notebook itself was _self-built_ from parts and processors that Kris bought with his own allowance and he assembled them together to create a running super computer in a form of a note-book or a super note-book. Kris kept upgrading the program stored in it that at some point, the note-book was able to self-learn now whenever he activated it.

Counterpart Kris often 'talked' to _it_. He typed something, a question or a greeting, and the self-learning program would 'respond' in a form of text as well. It had no voice modulator yet, so it couldn't 'talk' in human voice, but Kris had planned to add that _later_ , when he had time to do it. Kris had programmed enough data and information for his AI to get _curious_ and it often asked Kris about _things_ it hadn't known yet. It was fun for him, like he was teaching a child. Kris realized that counterpart Kris had dreamed about building a body for his AI someday, when the world was ready to accept such sentient being that was different from human or animal, that had intelligence which could probably rival humans' someday in distant future.

It was precious for Kris, his long-life pet project. But it wasn't a _secret_. There was no harm in telling these people about his _pet project_ , so he told them what he was doing in the basement of his boarding house last month and he wasn't even lying about it. He just omitted the part where he was also building the energy enhancer device.

"An AI, huh?" Pascal looked critically at Kris, as if he was searching something, _lies_ maybe, but he didn't seem to find any as he sighed.

"We will need to check that _super_ note-book and the intelligence that resides in it," Bai Jiao closed the lid of his laptop, also sighing.

"Fine, but don't _hurt_ it," Kris warned seriously. "It's _sentient_ , it has feelings," he continued like a father that tried to protect his child. In a way, that AI was his child, his creation.

"Relax. We will never do such things. We will only check out if there's any problem inside its program that might affect the magnetic field energy around your boarding house. If it's clean, we'll return it in one piece," Rin said softly with a smile.

"A sentient note-book, how interesting!" Goku seemed to be excited with the prospect of meeting the AI. But Lu Bu didn't seem to be interested in it and just mumbled about something resembling 'It's still just a machine, not a _being_ ,' with low voice. Kris glared at him for such offensive comment.

"Would you _please_ consult with me before you remove any program _if_ you find any that potentially can disturb the magnetic field energy?" Kris asked, _pleaded_ even, but still narrowed his eyes at Lu Bu, since he didn't want his AI's programs sequence to malfunction if they decided to mutilate the program either way.

"Of course. Will you be able to deliver your note-book to one of us tomorrow then, Kris?" Ace requested. "We can meet at a café or somewhere more… comfortable for students like us to hangout," he entered Kris' line of sight, probably trying to distract him from making a hole on Lu Bu's head with his glare.

"Sure," Kris agreed with a sigh as well, pretending to be resigning that he had to let go of his pet project for a period of time. Inwardly though, he was quite relieved that he finally knew what caused him to be _here_ , in this reality. This reality was very different from Kris' original reality, so the tear of the dimensional veil might be quite _large_ , a reality where his mother and father to marry late, so Kris was born quite _late_ as well. In result, he was younger in this reality than in his original reality.

Well, there was larger difference from this reality and Asgar reality though. The concept of everyday life in Asgar was completely different from here. The existence of dragon, monster and magic aside, the concept of godhood was utterly separated. It was like the point of choice that made the difference in this realty and Asgar reality happened thousands years ago. There was no way to trace back where it could have originated and differed from, obviously because of the lack of record of world history at _that time_.

Kris shouldn't thought about it that further behind, though. It would only hurt his _head_ for sure, no matter how intriguing this theory might be.

The main problem now was: how would Kris fix this shifting? He had to proceed more carefully. If he wanted to experiment with the veils, he had to find a way to activate his device in spots that weren't monitored by this Empire guys. It would take time and patience to even try it. Not to mention that he had to have a fail-safe plan in case it went awry and it affected not only him but other people around him. He needed to keep this matter an absolute secret from anyone.

Though, Kris could worry about this at a later date. He believed those Four Lords would flock around him for the time being to keep an eye on him, and he wouldn't be able to move freely until the suspicion of him involved in those magnetic field energy spiking was removed completely. As long as he didn't activate the device, there wouldn't be any increase in the magnetic field energy, so there was no further danger on that note. Now, he had to make excuse to his friends about his sudden interest in hanging around these people…

As Kris was mulling over it, there was a sudden commotion downstairs.

Kris blinked and the others frowned because there were shouting and banging and multiple running steps echoing in the hall and they all could hear it. It must have been quite an uproar if the sound even reached inside the room. The walls were quite thick after all.

"What's that?" Pascal asked. "It sounds like—"

"KRIS!"

It was Dellons' voice bellowing Kris' name at the top of his lungs, followed closely by voices that Kris knew so well, which also screamed his name and asked his whereabouts as loudly as, or probably more than, Dellons' yell.

"Kris, where are you!?" _Rudy._

"Answer us, Kris!" _Rachel._

"You guys are going to be sorry for kidnapping Kris!" _Eileen._

"Oh crap! No, Spike! Don't kill them!" _Jave._

"Where are you guys hiding our friend!?" _Spike, the berserk one_.

…

Kris couldn't help face-palming as he heard them and he couldn't help imagining the disaster that his friend had caused downstairs, storming the place down like that. _God_ , he didn't realize that they had tailed him. Of course… _Of course_ it would happen this way.

_It's my own damn fault for jinxing my luck with those lunatics around…_

Kris was about to apologize in advance for any damage his friends might (would definitely) cause in this _mishap_ , but Goku beat him to it by laughing hard.

"Oh man… your friends are completely mad!"

"It's not funny, Goku," Lu Bu growled, looking and sounding pissed off.

"Sheesh… please go and calm them down, Kris. Before they destroy our base," Ace chuckled ruefully, beads of sweats rolling down his cheeks.

"Boss should quickly hide before they see your face. They will _murder_ you if they know what you really are," Rin immediately ushered the still gaping Pascal and the dumbfounded Bai Jiao who immediately snapped and shouted-

"What the heck are those securities doing out there that a bunch of college students are able to invade this place?!"

Yeah, it must have been quite a chaos out there. Kris had to think fast to make excuse to tell his friends about this place and the Four Lords. But what should he tell them?

"Any cover story that I can use to resolve this?" Kris came up empty with idea, the reasonable one, at least.

"Just tell them whatever. I bet they already researched about us if they have the confidence to tear this place apart anyway. Just don't mention about the Empire and what we're doing as its members. We need the fact about multiple realities to remain a secret," Ace tapped Kris's back once before he too retreated from the room through another door, a secret door that didn't look like a door at first glance since it was colored in exact same color as the walls and the lines that separated the door and the walls were quite invisible until the door popped out and was slid aside to reveal a secret passage that would probably lead them all outside or something. Lu Bu and Goku also followed Ace and Rin retreating into the secret passage and left Kris to clean up the mess.

"Great, just great." A vein popped up on his head. Of course those guys would be a bunch of unreliable, _selfish_ pricks. He swore he wouldn't want to have anything to do with them ever again after this.

Kris huffed as he turned around to get out from the room from its proper entrance.

* * *

**~A Seven Knight Fan Fiction~**

* * *

"Kris!" Dellons was the first to spot the platinum blond haired man and he was so relieved that his Princess was alright, which would explain why he didn't notice how pissed off Kris looked at that moment.

Dellons hurried to run toward Kris, feeling every part of his body yearning to hold the guy close, just to make sure that he was really alright, that he wasn't hurt, and he was just about to do _that_ when Kris clenched his fist and then whacked Dellon's head with it… hard.

"OUCH!" Dellons yelped in shock and surprise (and pain, but that was beside the point) that he actually couldn't react fast enough to dodge the usual violent assault Kris usually bestowed him whenever Dellons was being too _touchy_. Well, Dellons was worried sick. It was the only reason why he missed Kriss tell-tale sign. "What was that for?!"

It didn't stop Dellons from complaining as he nursed his abused head, though.

Before Kris spoke, the others already spotted them as well and they all called Kris in unison, "Kris!" as they ran toward him too, and then they promptly shoved Dellon away the moment they arrived in front of Kris.

"Hey!" But, Dellons' complaint was instantly drowned by those guys hollering at the same time.

"Oh, thank god, you're okay!"

"What's going on? Why were they holding you here?"

"Did they do anything to you? Are you sure you're okay?"

"What did they want from you?"

"Do you need us to kick their ass?"

Anyway, the barrage of questions didn't seem about to stop anytime soon and along with Kris' most likely darkening mood, Dellons irritation grew.

"Come on, guys! Give the guy a space! He won't be able to talk if you corner him like that!" Dellons shouted in the end, annoyed that they interrupted his moment with his Princess.

"Oh, right," Rudy chuckled, looking sheepish as he seemed to just realize it. The others quickly followed and stepped back a little from Kris whose left eye was twitching repeatedly now.

"You guys…" Kris growled, multiple veins popping out of his temples. Now that they got a good look at Kris, they seemed to finally realize that Kris was perfectly okay and probably was about to give them an earful for what they had done.

Dellons was tempted to watch from the sideline as Kris' wrath fell upon them, but he wasn't that lucky, because Kris scathing glare was now on him and he pulled Dellons to be placed together with the others so Kris could scream at them without having to repeat his words to Dellons later.

They all winced as Kris started. "I can't even believe—! Did you guys follow me around like stalkers?! Seriously! And Rudy! I can reluctantly understand if it's Dellons because he's an ass ( _"Hey!"_ Of course Dellons protested indignantly, but was totally ignored _)_ , but you! I expect better from you! What did I tell you about being an insufferable, suffocating mother-hen?! Jave and Spike too! I just— how did even you get roped into this… this atrocity? Oh my God! Eileen! Rachel! You're supposed to be the voices of reason here!"

Kris was still roaring in his anger-muddled self, but Dellons was secretly enjoying this out of control Kris. It was interesting because Kris was never this emotional most of the time. He looked flustered and overwhelmed as well as being furious. His face got flushed pink and it was such a glorious sight that he ended up chuckling against his better judgment.

Kris' angry ranting stopped at the sound of his laugh and Kris once again turned his deadly glare at him. "You…!" Now Kris reached his hands out before he throttled Dellons. The others tried to stop him immediately though, before he could really commit murder, by yanking Dellons' body away from Kris while Rudy held Kris from behind.

In the end, it was Rudy who could calm Kris down. The brunet apologized to him repeatedly while holding his wrists and then pulling Kris body from behind into a firm but gentle hug that seemed to be irresistible for Kris, because even though he was still agitated and snarling at Dellons, his body immediately melted into Rudy's embrace.

It was so painfully obvious how weak Kris was to Rudy's ministration. Dellons wondered how Rudy never noticed this, really. The guy was practically putty whenever Rudy touched him. It seemed like Kris' body had developed some kind of conditioned response that accepted Rudy's touch unreservedly or something. It was so disgustingly sweet that Dellons' teeth hurt just thinking about it.

"So these guys are your friends, huh?"

Someone spoke from behind the group and Dellons snapped and turned around immediately in alert only to find a shorter, sunglasses wearing, Asian man that had come up to him and his friends unnoticed. Dellons didn't even hear his steps. Who was this guy?

"Ah, Mr. Kurogarasu," Kris seemed to know the guy though as he called him.

"Teo is fine," the long, dark haired man grunted before he looked around them and saw the damage that had been done to the place and _some people_ who laid unconscious on the ground. He removed his sunglasses to reveal his sapphire colored eyes and slipped them into the inside of his suits pocket. "Care to explain why your friends beat up our security personnel to this extent, Mr. Tenebra?" he asked, his expression calm, but his heavy voice sounded grave.

"Um," Kris squirmed a bit, wiggling out of Rudy's hold rather forcefully that Rudy had to let him go.

"Hey now! You're the ones who kidnapped our friend and were holding him here!" Dellons immediately protested, not liking that the guy seemed to hold Kris responsible for the carnage.

"Kidnapped?" Teo raised his eyebrows high, staring at Dellons with incredulous look.

"I- we're sorry," Kris said before Dellons had a chance to retort some more. "My friends got the wrong assumption. I didn't tell them that I'd be meeting Ace, Rin, Lu Bu and Goku here today. They followed me and probably thought I was brought here against my will," he tried to explain and he looked directly into Teo's eyes.

Dellons saw a slight hesitance in the glint of Kris' eyes, but he couldn't tell what the reason was before Teo let out a long suffering sigh.

"Wait, you really came here on your free will?" Rachel piped up, her eyes wide and confused.

"But these suit-dressed people! Those sunglasses! And why is this place so secluded, even needing outer, higher and bigger building to hide it? Isn't this place some kind of secret lair?" Eileen protested and the others promptly nodded to support her conclusion.

"Are you guys serious? This isn't a movie or a TV drama! This place is a _boarding house_!" Kris huffed, apparently still annoyed and irritated enough to raise the volume of his voice.

"A boarding house? Forty minutes away from campus?" Both Jave and Spike sounded skeptical as they said it together.

"And the security is too overkill, don't you think?" Rudy also chimed in as Dellons snorted at Kris' attempt to make excuse, because it was totally unbelievable.

"It really _is_ a boarding house. Ask Teo," Kris said and indeed the long haired man immediately explained.

"This house is especially chosen for security reason, indeed, since the residents of this house are quite… high profiles. I presume you already know of them? Lu Bu is the third son of General Lu from China, Ryuujou Rin is the only daughter of Ryuujou Group in Japan that has connection with the current Japanese emperor, Son Goku is the second son of Son Clan from Chang' an which has been the protector of the China Jade Castle from hundred years ago, and Mikazuki Ace if the eldest son of Japanese Prime Minister. Their background is quite sensitive and their fathers and families get a lot of attention, both from good and bad people, so to ensure that they are safe while they are studying out of their mother country, they have to be in a security-controlled environment."

There was silence from the younger party as they heard Teo's explanation.

"See?" Kris huffed again.

"So you weren't brought here against your will?" Rudy asked once again, his face paling slightly now after he seemed to realize how bad a situation he and his friends had created with their wild assumption.

"No," Kris shook his head.

"But you seemed unimpressed when Ace pushed you into the limo?" Jave sounded unsure.

"Because they're dressed like him! In public! The four of them!" Kris pointed at Teo's suits. " _Bowties_ ," he made an appalled noise and expression as he turned to Jave and the others. "I am _still_ embarrassed that I stood _near_ them earlier in front of China Town." He crossed his arms in front of his chest now, frowning deeply.

"I didn't know you're such a _fashionista_ , Kris," Dellons' sweat dropped.

"I am _not_. But people were staring weirdly, you know? It's _common sense_ ," Kris' face flushed slightly then, how cute.

"But, where are the Four Lords, then?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah, if it's just misunderstanding, they could just explain it to us in person," Eileen didn't seem to buy any of it. She even challenged them to come out.

"They're in their safety room, because they thought the house was under attack," Teo answered immediately. "It will be two hours before the room can be opened from the outside," he added, sighing again as if it was a pain.

"Oh…" Yeah, that shut everyone up.

"So… we did a bad thing, didn't we?" Rudy was the first to speak again and then looked at Teo and the previously unconscious people that started to wake up as well—grumbling and muttering curses at the college students. "Um… we're very, _very_ sorry about this…" Then he looked down, looking very guilty.

Dellons clicked his tongue, not wanting to lower his head to admit that he might have done something wrong, but Kris' still wrathful glare at him got him to at least mutter the word sorry. Jave, Spike, Eileen and Rachel followed Rudy's example to apologize for their wrong assumption. Rachel even made excuse because Kris was an _important_ person and that most of them seemed to prone to attract trouble, especially Dellons (Dellons protested again at this notion and once again was ignored), and that they only wanted their circle of friends to be safe.

"Um, about the compensating for the damage…" Kris asked Teo tentatively.

"That's alright. It seems that our security needs more training if a bunch of college students can beat them up," Teo smiled, but it looked eerie and all the SP behind him cringed at that. "As for the material damage to the house, you don't have to worry about that. The masters and mistress have enough allowance to rebuild this place if they want to," he continued.

"Wait, we're getting away scot-free?" Dellons was surprised, but mostly gleeful at this and that earned him a whack to the back of his head once more from Kris (and from Rudy for good measure). "I am very sorry. We'll never do something like this again…" he continued, nursing his abused head once again.

"Thank you, Teo," Kris said with a tight smile and the older man nodded curtly.

They were escorted outside the building immediately and then brought outside the outer building with a minivan.

Dellons saw their rental car parked on the roadside, just where he had left Rudy and friends inside it when he had climbed out to scout the outer building earlier. "Oh, it's still there," he mused.

"I still can't believe that you guys actually followed me. This is ridiculous! I'm not talking to you guys until you all repent about invading my privacy!" Kris refused to get into the rental car as he walked past it, still fuming.

"Ah, wait, Kris!" Rudy immediately ran after him while the other groaned.

"He'll be sulking for quite a while, won't he?" Eileen sighed, resigned.

"Well, it _is_ our fault," Spike shrugged.

"Let's just hope that Rudy can do his magic around Kris. That will improve his mood," Jave suggested, sweat dropping.

"Or probably make it worse, since Rudy is still an oblivious dunce about Kris' feeling toward him," Rachel added, making the others moan once again.

Dellons snorted and climbed into the car and proceed to wait for Rudy to comeback with Kris in tow. He had faith that Rudy would bring Kris back to them in no time after all.

**End of Round 7**

**Tbc...**

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My GOD, this round gives me headache. Oh, and if after reading this you guys think that I'm bullshitting my way through the science, it's because I am bullshitting my way through the science. I'm NOT a scientific kind of guy, so please, please, pleaaaase don't take the explanation of the multiverse things seriously. It's baseless and crappy. Just… think of it as a medium to make the story progress, okay? So I won't answer any questions about that part of the story *nods*. But I am open for ideas of how Rudy and Dellons will make it up to Kris for… ya know, breaching his trust? Down there is a button to start giving me ideas!
> 
> **Teaser:**
> 
> "Why, Princess… you've been very peculiar these days," Dellons purred, his silky, low tenor voice tickling Kris' ear as he leaned into him and nuzzled the side of his head.
> 
> Kris kept still as he tested the boundary of his wrists, gripped by Dellons on each side of his head on top of the sofa backrest as one of the blonde's knees was nestled between his legs and his warm body was so close, bordering into touching, on top of him.
> 
> Kris' entire body was tense in a fight and flight response, getting ready to knee the guy on his royal jewel if he needed to, but Kris had grown tired of this repetitive escapades, and he needed to teach the brat a lesson anyway for making fun of people that was older than him (since the original Kris was indeed older than this Dellons), so he forced his body to relax and then nuzzled Dellons' nape in retaliation.
> 
> "And how peculiar do you mean, Dellons?" Kris whispered back, lowering his tone as well, and promptly smirked inwardly in triumph as he felt Dellons' body shiver in reaction...


	9. Round 8: Lit A Fire in your Heart 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone thinks Kris is still pissed. Evan's birthday is coming up. Rudy and Kris visit Rudy's old orphanage...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi Knights!Oh, my GOD! Have you guys seen 7K webtoon? We finally knew Kris' official last name (as weird as it sounds, Luxtov, seriously! But I won't change Kris' last name in this fic. Probably for the next one then XD). The comic' story is amazing so far, and I can't help fangirling as I read Kris and Rudy's interaction in it. It's awesome! The art is okay as well… though the game art is always better and more detail, at least the background story (pre-7K game) is more sound and clearer. I can't wait to reading the continuation and it actually pushed my lazy ass to update my own almost neglected fanfic. Um, sorry for making you guys wait. So, here's the new round for this story! Round 8... FIGHT!
> 
>  **Disclaimer and Warning:** _See prologue_

 

* * *

**A Gift from A Far Away World—a Seven Knights Fan fiction**

© lunaryu

**Round 8: _Lit a Fire in your Heart 1_**

* * *

_**A few days after the incident in Four Lords' Residence…** _

"You know, I believed wholeheartedly in Rudy's ability to calm Kris down no matter how challenging the circumstance or _he_ might be… _before_ , but looking at our miserable situation for several days now… I start to think that it's a blind faith without knowing all the cards…" Dellons looked at his soggy, very salty, salad breakfast mournfully.

The others, sans Rudy and Kris who were suspiciously missing from breakfast table, gave him unified withering glare. They also looked at their sorry for an excuse of breakfast while sighing in defeat. Kris had been in charge of breakfast this morning, two days ago _and_ dinnerfive days ago. For those times Kris cooked, somehow… the food turned out especially bad that even Spike was grimacing when he ate, and he was the guy with the most steely taste bud in the house.

Dellons sulked as he nudged at the blob of unidentified homemade _something_ (which looked like normal mayonnaise but tasted like _hell_ incarnation) on top of his salad, grumbling inwardly that _alright_ , he kind of been guilty for spying on Kris when he already made perfectly clear that he wanted to meet those Four Lords privately, but seriously! It wasn't an excuse for Kris to waste perfectly good ingredients and his amazing cooking skill just to punish them!

"Is Rudy still at it?" Jave asked, sounding a little desperate. He refused to touch his breakfast as soon as he noticed Spike wince again when he had a bite of his own.

"I believed he bought a bouquet of red roses yesterday and Kris had subtly yelled at him that he wasn't a woman or something before he slammed the door on his face," Eileen informed.

This time Dellons cringed. He had suggested that route.

So, plain apology didn't work. A thoughtless promise earned Rudy a silent glare and flowers got him a door to his face. Rudy also had tried some other presents like chocolates, in many flavors and shapes, which Kris didn't eat even though he was silently fond of sweet things; teddy bear plush that he threw back at Rudy's face (that had been Eileen and Rachel's idea) and a bunch of favor and _service_ cards that Kris didn't even touch or even care to use. Kris seemed to be adamant to make their life difficult no matter how much Rudy and the others (except Dellons) were sorry for how they had behaved.

It had been a week, and Kris was still angry with them. The others, sans Dellons who had been stupid enough to bother Kris, which instantly earned him a punch to the face, already tried to apologize again from appropriate distance and yet were being glared at heatedly. They wisely steered clear of his warpath after that. However, Rudy didn't give up just because his apology was turned down once and had kept trying since Kris refused to go back to the van and opted to ride a bus to go home that fateful day.

Dellons was honestly surprised when Rudy came back to them empty-handed.

"What's Rudy's plan for today _apology_?" the apostrophe in 'apology' was clear enough in Rachel's tone even without making the gesture with her fingers.

"I think Rudy purchased something online last night in our communal computer in the living room," Spike put down his spoon just after he finished the last bite of the very disgusting sustenance and took a tissue to clean the remnant of food on his mouth. Jave looked at him with shining eyes in amazement and wonder, while the others looked kind of sick to their stomach. Even Dellons didn't dare to put his own salad in his mouth. Spike indeed had a steel of a gut. Or his taste bud was worse than as tasteless as he claimed to be, but Dellons didn't care about that in the slightest. He was more interested in what had just been said.

"He bought something again? I thought he had to keep some of his money to send back at his old orphanage," Dellons raised his eyebrows at that.

"Oh, you didn't know? Rudy has been taking more students to tutor this week just to fund his apologizing operation," Rachel answered, raising her eyebrows as well.

 _No wonder he's hardly at home these days…—_ Dellons thought, a bead of sweat rolling down his cheek.

Oh well. Dellons was as guilty as Rudy and the others (but they would call him the guiltiest of all), he should make another effort to apologize no matter how troublesome that was. Kris could be such a grudge holder when he wanted to be. A feisty, gorgeous, angry _kitten_. He was indeed very beautiful when his ruby eyes were blazing with fury, but too much of prodding at Kris' ego wouldn't be healthy. He needed smarter plot to apologize.

"Dellons, stop scheming. You've already done enough damage as it is, so do us a favor and just _stop._ Do _not_ needle Kris either," Spike gave him the coldest warning stare he had ever used on people and Dellons just scowled at him.

Such a spoilsport. Sometimes Dellons hated his friends for knowing him inside and out.

"He's not Dellons if he isn't scheming," Jave rolled his eyes at him, apparently already accepting fate that Dellons wouldn't stop despite all the warnings and requests.

Dellons turned to Jave and gave him a sickeningly sweet smile. "My, you know me so well, lizard boy."

"Don't call me that!" Jave instantly fumed.

"Anyway," Dellons dismissed his breakfast by pushing his plate away and the discussion by standing up. "I need to do something after this, so… bye!" He ran to the front door, leaving all the dishes in the kitchen for Jave to deal with as the purple haired kid squeaked in shock before shouting out Dellons' name at the top of his lungs with murder in his voice.

When Dellons got out while snickering, he saw Rudy and Kris at the gate, just in time when the brunet was handing some kind of paper to Kris. The silver haired man stared at the paper for a moment before he accepted and pocketed it. Rudy looked immensely relieved even though Kris didn't say anything or show any expression for that matter. He just turned away and left.

"Hey, Rudy!" Dellons patted his back to Rudy's yelp of surprise because he didn't seem to realize that Dellons had been there at all. Dellons closed the front door loudly, though… for Rudy not to notice, his single minded attention must have been fully on Kris the whole time.

"Dellons! Sheesh… don't scare me like that!" Rudy's face turned a bit pink, frowning in embarrassment.

"Well, aren't you a sly one? What did you give Kris just now? All your apology presents were turned down before after all. He accepted this one, huh?" Dellons grinned. Still, he was more surprised that it took Kris this long to forgive Rudy.

Curiously, Rudy's face got even redder. "T-that's not your business!" He squeaked and made a gesture to run away from Dellons, which was very and he meant _very_ suspicious because! Since when had Rudy been so secretive with him?

Dellons caught Rudy's elbow before he could retreat. "Come now. Don't be all mysterious with me, Rudy. You will tickle my curiosity even more and you know I _will_ get to the bottom of it eventually even if you try your hardest to hide it from me. Let's save everybody the effort and just tell me what you gave him just now," Dellons smiled, pulling Rudy closer and whispered into his ear teasingly.

"Well, let's see your effort then," Rudy tilted his head away, still flushing for some reason, and there was a petulant notion in his voice that indicated that he hadn't fully forgiven Dellons either for getting him (and the others) into this mess with Kris.

"Fine," Dellons sighed, quickly giving up after narrowing his eyes at his obstinate friend, and then let Rudy go. Rudy hurried to go back inside the house without giving him even a glance. "Still mad, huh? I guess I owe Rudy an apology too." He shook his head, feeling weird that he felt _guilt-ridden_ at all. He usually didn't, after doing something allegedly illegal. Staying with these guys made him sentimental. It was bad for his health and reputation.

_Oh, I should check the communal computer history later to find out what Rudy ordered online…_

It didn't mean Dellons was going to stop poking his nose into his friends' business.

* * *

**~A Seven Knights Fan Fiction~**

* * *

Kris closed his notebook and sighed after his professor announced that it was the end of their class lesson today. It had been a trying day. Well, a trying week, actually. He didn't think that he would spend the rest of his holiday trying to avoid his housemates. It wasn't that he was still actually angry with them, but it was a perfect excuse to sneak around and meet with the Four Lords without his friends tailing him again.

As per request, Kris surrendered his laptop and his partial notes about his AI project, but kept the note of his power-amplifier device to himself. He made his interest of multiverse known to the Four Lords and Pascal, and was willing to join in the active investigation of the increasing power of magnetic fields in exchange of information about their project in more detail. Of course he had to sign some legal papers about keeping classified information to himself as well, but it was a small price to pay for the data and material he could get from their organization. Besides, it wasn't like he would tell anyone about it either.

Kris didn't want to be sanctioned, thank you very much.

Luckily, his friends at home knew ( _finally!_ ) to keep their distance, thinking that Kris was still mad at them, except for Rudy who was still diligently trying to apologize to him, and once, Dellons who thought it was alright to pester him when his temper was still up. Kris had to pat himself on the back when he successfully punched the blond on his face. It felt immensely _pleasurable_ to wipe that smugness and turn it into disbelieving shock.

The problem was Rudy. He was polite and tentative with his ridiculous apology plans, no doubt some of those were suggestions from their other friends, like that teddy bear and flowers, seriously. But the chocolate and the service cards seemed originally Rudy's. It was kind of sweet, and it physically pained Kris not to accept them because of his pretense. It was unfortunate that Rudy didn't give up easily either. Kris had to actively ignore and avoid him whenever it was possible if he wanted to have time for himself and to meet the Four Lords for his extracurricular activities.

Though, it had been a week. He thought he could tone the avoiding down a little bit since he had no other agendas with his _other_ friends this week. It was _that time_ of the year when Rudy was busy preparing for the party in his old orphanage. He said it was for his brother's birthday, but it doubled as the welcoming party for new members of the family or the parting party for the boys and the girls that managed to find surrogate families who would raise them.

Kris was annually expected to be a guest at the occasion because he had been Rudy's best friend since they were little, and had become an unofficial member of the orphanage family by extension. It had been a year since he saw them, especially Evan, since he often tagged along when Rudy was playing with Kris back then. He kind of missed the kid, and the last time Kris saw him, he was 14. It was possible that the party this year was for celebrating his 15th birthday.

 _Better to look a present for him. I wonder if he's still trying to imitate Rudy at everything he does or wears—_ Kris chuckled inwardly. If that was really the case, it would be easy to pick something for him. Something that pleased Rudy would no doubt please Evan as well.

Kris packed up his books in his backpack and made a move to visit the library to check up some books. Since he and Rudy were little, Rudy was always fond of adventurous fantasy stories and books, the kind that original Kris lived out his entire life. Rudy still had a soft spot for them even until now, and Evan inherited that passion. It was always fun to see Rudy's eyes glimmering with excitement when he read them and no doubt it would be a good look on Evan's as well.

Kris arrived at the fantasy genre section of the library and started to review some of the books, some that he already read and some new ones, made a list of titles that the orphanage already possessed a copy of, and skimmed some titles around for reading material that was decently adventurous, family and kid friendly enough with a dash of innocent romance.

Yes, Evan was a teenager, but it didn't mean he would get a book that couldn't be read by his other brothers and sisters that were younger than him in the house since the book would probably end up in the orphanage library for everyone to read. Evan was generous like that, just like Rudy.

"This seems good," Kris found a book that was titled 'His Personal Knight of Light'. He looked at the synopsis and then skimmed the content of the book. Well, the romance part was vague enough, and the adventure part wasn't too bloody. The language was tasteful without any crude cursing words. The material was a bit heavy overall, but the ending was open enough for people to want to imagine what kind of ending they would want personally. "This will do." Kris nodded and made a note of the title and the author on a notepad he brought with him. He put the book back on the shelf and then looked for another book from the same author and found another one immediately.

"For Just a Moment," he mumbled the title and frowned, puzzling over what kind of story behind such title. Kris' interest was piqued as he took the book from the shelf and started to skim the content without reading the synopsis first.

Kris eyebrows went up as he read some clues in the story. This seemed to be a sort of spin off from the previous book 'His Personal Knight of Light', but from another character's perspective. Unlike the previous one, this book leaned more into romance and drama even though the setting and the timeline were the same as the previous book. It was told with the same kind of tasteful language, but braver and more humorous. The adventure part still existed, but off-screen, and the relationship between the main characters were dug deeper. The ending was clearer and the readers would get a glimpse of hidden story that wasn't told in 'His Personal Knight of Light.'

Kris hesitated slightly as he read the romantic part of the story, since the main pairing of the writer's choice was a bit… unorthodox, for a story with knights and kings and princesses. Well… there seemed to be no princess around, so… and it wasn't like it was a taboo in this era, and it was innocent enough anyway. Besides, if he only get the previous book, it seemed to be incomplete.

Kris noted down the title as well to look for a copy later, if only to satisfy his own principle that reading an incomplete story was worse than not reading at all.

* * *

**~ A Seven Knights Fan Fiction ~**

* * *

Rudy chewed his lower lip as he compared a red sweater from one rag to the blue one on the other at the department store he visited. Both sweaters looked good and he had trouble deciding which would be better on his brother. He should have asked Dellons to come with him in picking present for Evan. Dellons was a pain, but at least he had sense in fashion, unlike Rudy.

"Why is picking present for someone always this difficult?" Rudy let out a long suffering sigh.

"May I help you with that?"

Rudy almost jumped at the sudden voice greeting… _well_ , not exactly greeting, but the context was the same. He turned around and found Rachel behind him.

"Oh, hey Rachel," Rudy greeted her back rather sheepishly for being jumpy. "And please do. I'm hopeless in picking present," he chuckled, scratching the back of his head lightly.

"Whom is it for? Kris?" There was a twinkle in her eyes and Rudy flushed slightly for unexplainable reason hearing Kris' name.

"Unfortunately, no. I've exhausted ideas in picking something to apologize to him anyway," he sighed again, rather resigned about that case. "It's for my brother, actually. He's turning fifteen and I want to give him something decent for his birthday, but between these sweaters and medieval knight costume for _cosplay_ , I have no idea what's cool for someone like him," Rudy grimaced slightly for his incompetence. "It's seriously sad that I don't really know what he likes as a person, and I am his big brother."

Rachel giggled at Rudy's funny indignant look and tone. "Well, it's almost winter so you choosing a sweater instead of a knight costume, especially for practical reason, spoke highly of your deep care for him," Rachel pointed out. "At least you want him to keep warm in the season, right?"

Rudy chuckled as well, more relieved than deprecating now. "I guess," he felt rather bashful for her compliment though. "But like always, my fashion sense is abysmal, so… do you think these sweaters tasteful enough? Which do you think is better? Red or blue?" Rudy showed her both sweaters to Rachel and she critically considered them.

"The model is simple and elegant, so that's quite tasteful. Is he a fit kind of guy or chubby?" she asked for some reference and Rudy described Evan's feature.

"Dark brown hair and eyes, fit athletic body, kind of looks like me, actually, but leaner and a little shorter… _ah_ , and his hair is a bit longer than mine." Rudy nodded.

"Well, what about this silver one?" Rachel pulled out another sweater in the same model but different color scheme. It was metallic dark silver and looked kind of like an armor. "You considers knight costume. Is he a fan of fantasy genre?" She smirked and Rudy almost snorted in laughter at the dead on guess.

"You're right. Oh my god, that's definitely his favorite! I can see that perfectly as an excuse for him to wear it all the time! That's like throwing two birds with one stone, so ingenious! Thanks, Rachel. This will be a great present for him!" Rudy grinned happily as he touched the silvery material, already imagining Evan's gleeful expression when he saw it later.

"I'm happy to be in your service," Rachel made a mock-bow gesture and looked up at him with mirth in her eyes. "Do you need help warping it later, then?" She fell into step with Rudy after he called for the tenant to give her his choice of product and then received a facture to bring to the cashier for him to pay.

"That's alright. I already bought a present box for this gift, so no need to wrap it over later," Rudy said.

"When are you going to give it to him then?" she asked.

"At the end of the week. I'm due to _visit_ my old home at the orphanage this Saturday. I'm going to spend a weekend there with my brothers and sisters," Rudy hummed cheerily as he paid for the sweater and then accepted the product, safely folded and stored inside a plastic bag with the store logo, before he and Rachel got out from the store.

"I see. Will Kris tag along as well? I recalled he often accompanied you when you went _home_ ," Rachel asked tentatively, looking slightly concerned.

"I was wondering as well until I asked this morning. He accepted the invitation, though. I guess despite still being angry with me, he won't miss Evan's birthday." Rudy smiled, slightly wistful at the irrational prick in his heart at the thought. Kris was always a considerate person to begin with. At first glance he might appear unapproachable, but he was very kind and thoughtful that even Evan was very taken with Kris when he was younger. Rudy recalled that the boy had ever stared at Kris for a long moment and commented how _pretty_ Kris was when he was smiling under the morning sunlight.

It sounded like a _crush_ and Rudy couldn't blame the kid. Kris was _pretty_ after all. But it didn't explain the slight dread Rudy felt when he remembered that. At the time, Evan was still a twelve year old kid with a crush to his big brother's much older friend. But he was turning fifteen now, and if that crush hadn't dissipated yet, Rudy didn't want to think about what that had morphed into these days.

"You're making a funny face, Rudy. What are you thinking?"

Rachel's curious voice was suddenly registered in Rudy's sense and he blinked at her, surprised that he had zoned out for a bit there. "Oh, what?" He tried to think what he should say to answer, but his attention was seized by something across the street that he had to stop walking.

Rachel seemed to notice his sudden quiet self as she also stopped. "Rudy?" Then she turned to see what Rudy saw and raised her eyebrows in slight surprise as well. "Isn't that Kris? Why is he there alone—?"

She spoke too soon apparently because then someone came out from the café door beside where Kris stood. "Oh." It was Ace. The bluish-silver haired guy smiled at Kris and handed Kris something. A goodie bag, and Kris looked at inside the bag before he turned to face Ace, the corner of his mouth twitched up in a beginning of a smile.

It was not a public smile at all.

"Oh my… Is Kris on a date with _Ace_?" Rachel sounded shocked, but her voice didn't sound as bothered as how Rudy felt.

Rudy stared at Kris and Ace's exchange in a dreadful confusion. His heart that had felt like being pinpricked earlier when he thought about the possibility of Evan having a crush on Kris had nothing on how he felt at this moment. It was like a bowl of ice cubes were shoved into his back inside his clothes. There was a slight nausea that he detected when he realized that Kris was genuinely smiling at Ace. Kris' smile which was so rare and precious that Rudy thought was reserved for his closest friend…

"Rudy, are you alright? Your face is pale," Rachel touched his shoulder, a concern in her voice.

"I'm… maybe I'm a bit under the weather after all," Rudy's hand shook slightly as he touched his own face. He didn't know what the name of the feeling was. It was an unpleasant woozy sensation and it felt _ugly_ which was funny because he had never felt something as grotesque as that. It made him want to hurt someone and it was scary because that someone had Ace's face.

Rachel seemed to notice something on his face and made a rueful smile. "Don't worry. It's Kris. He is probably just grateful to Ace that he and his friends aren't suing us for what we did last week," she patted Rudy's back once before she took his wrist to start walking again. "Come on. Let's just go before Kris notices. You don't want to make Kris misunderstand that we're stalking him again, do you?"

Rudy followed Rachel silently, subconsciously agreeing that Kris hadn't forgiven them yet. If Kris caught him and Rachel looking at him from across the street when he was with one of the Four Lords, Kris would definitely think that and would never forgive them this time.

 _But… what is this unpleasant feeling…?_ —Rudy couldn't help wondering why he wanted to hurt Ace even though the guy evidently neither did anything to him nor to Kris.

* * *

**~ A Seven Knights Fan Fiction~**

* * *

At the weekend, as promised Kris tagged along when Rudy made his visit to his orphanage. It was a quiet two hour drive from their shared house, and Kris was grateful that Rudy didn't feel the need to fill the silence with idle chatter.

At the first 30 minutes, it was a bit awkward to be alone with Rudy because Kris still didn't know how to tell Rudy that he had forgiven him and his friends. But as the hour past, the awkwardness lessened with the change of scenery outside the car and the soft music from the radio filling the space inside.

Kris closed his eyes slightly, feeling a bit refreshed as he opened the window to enjoy the morning breeze. They had departed at 6 a.m. from home to avoid traffic and after an hour drive on the highway and now the car entering the rural area once again, the weather was friendly, especially since it was quite early.

"We're almost there," Rudy informed when the road ahead had become slightly rocky, filled with dark soil and pebbles, each side of road rich with wild greenery, and Kris nodded in assent, recognizing the road which was close to the orphanage.

It was another five minutes before he could see the top of the big, wide, old building of the orphanage. Kris smiled softly. It had been awhile since he saw Rudy's brothers and sisters. He couldn't wait to seeing them again soon.

#

"Rudy!"

Evan's excited voice could be heard along with the sound of his running from inside the house when Rudy finished parking the car and shut off the engine.

Rudy immediately opened the car door and got off before he was greeted with a bundle of pure energy that was Evan barreling into him in a big tight hug. "Oof!" he laughed in surprise at the ecstatic welcome before he hugged the boy back. "Come now, Evan! You're too big and heavy for this _glomping_ routine now!" he scolded lightly, but still grinning excitedly as well as he pat Evan's back fondly.

"Welcome home, big bro!" Evan pulled back slightly, looking up at Rudy with wide chocolate eyes that still could melt Rudy every time he was presented with them.

Evan was adorable. No matter if he was fifteen. He was still the cutest brother Rudy had ever had.

"I'm home, Evan," Rudy softened his grin and planted a kiss on the younger boy's forehead. Evan flushed immediately.

"Eww! Not a kiss on the forehead! I'm not a child anymore, Rudy!" the chocolate haired boy protested suddenly as he pulled back completely and made a gesture to wipe at his forehead while wrinkling his nose. Rudy's face fell at that.

"Well, that was new," Kris' voice commenting from the front of the car immediately stole Evan's attention from Rudy even before Rudy could make a remark on how shocked he was at the rude rejection. "Last year you still asked for a kiss before bed from Rudy. What changed, Evan?" he asked, a slight amusement on his expression.

"Kris!" Evan's expression brightened again immediately as he bounded to the platinum blond man and gave him a hug as well. Kris rolled his eyes and returned Evan's affection with one armed hug. "Welcome home! And I don't know what you're talking about," he said, feigning innocence and obliviousness which didn't work at all because the boy was incapable of faking his emotion, and his feeling always showed in his expression like an open book.

"Rude!" Rudy sputtered, still in shock.

"He's in rebellion phase," Kris snorted.

"I am _not_!" Evan denied, flushing slightly probably from embarrassment.

As the bicker and banter continued outside the house, it was like a cue to the other members of the orphanage to come out as well, one by one to greet Rudy and Kris.

"Big bro Rudy!" A 14 year old girl with long chocolate hair tied into a pony tail jumped into his arms in a hug, kissing his cheek at the process, "Welcome home!" She looked very happy to see him and Rudy kissed her cheek back softly with a smile.

"I'm home, Ariel. How have you been?"

"I'm at my best today!" She grinned cheerily before she pulled back to make place for the others to greet Rudy as well, albeit more subtly and yet no less happily.

"Welcome home, Rudy," Li, a blind 13 year old boy with skinhead greeted him next, smiling contently.

"Hey, Li. I see you've improved your senses more since last year," Rudy shook the boy's hand before pulling him into a one armed hug, patting his back proudly.

"Yea, I don't need my walking stick anymore to navigate around the house, the front and back yards," Li said, smiling bashfully.

"But he still needs guidance outside the compound," another boy, even younger than Li, with reddish dark hair came up behind Li and greeted Rudy as well. "Welcome home, Rudy."

"Snipper," Rudy ruffled Snipper's hair fondly before reaching out to hug him with both arms. "I'm home."

Next person to greet Rudy was a little girl around 8, named Yui. "I'm glad you can make it home this year, Rudy. I will sing a new song at the party and I want you to hear it!" the silver haired girl hugged Rudy's waist after Rudy released the ten year old boy and then knelt slightly to hug her as well.

"I can't wait to hear your heavenly voice, Yui," Rudy kissed the girl's hair with a soft happy smile.

There were also 15 year old twin girls, Hellenia and Heavenia, who came next to greet Rudy and then an orange haired girl with foxy grin, Yuri, and a new face that both Rudy and Kris had never seen before. She must have been a new member of the family.

"This is Karin," Evan pulled the seemingly shy girl out to introduce her to both Rudy and Kris. "She's only been here for three months."

"N-nice to meet you," she greeted, her long lavender colored hair splayed slightly in front of her face as she bowed to greet both older men.

Rudy blinked as Kris raised one of his eyebrows. "Eastern custom?" Kris asked tentatively.

"Y-yes! I'm from Japan, um… I'd been raised there until last year and my family moved here at the new year and, um…" she seemed flustered and didn't seem to know how to continue her introduction as her eyes seemed to water as well.

Rudy immediately guessed that she probably felt that she had to tell them how she ended up in the orphanage, but since she had been only there for three months, it was too _early_ for her to share the private story to anyone without making her remember how painful and awful it must have been that she had to part with her family.

Rudy smiled sadly at that and reached to ruffle Karin's unsurprisingly soft hair. "Welcome to the family, Karin," he said, coaxing the younger girl to look upward at him before he changed his expression a bit to smile gently, welcoming, and she blushed, hurriedly drying her tears before they could fall and smiled back at him.

"Yes, thank you, and welcome home, Rudy." Her smile was slightly forced, but it wasn't a fake one. Rudy could feel that she was grateful to be here with her new family, but she still needed more time to grieve and get over losing her previous ones.

Rudy ruffled her hair once again. Then it was Kris who greeted her and introduced himself to the girl. Kris even threw her a genuine welcoming smile that made Karin blush even redder than before. She stuttered as she spoke to Kris and Kris seemed amused at how cute she acted.

"Alright, let's come inside then! I haven't had breakfast yet and I am starving!" Rudy laughed as he herded all his brothers and sisters inside.

"What are you talking about? You already gobbled two big burgers on the way here," Kris commented again dryly and Rudy sputtered at that with red face.

"Kris! That was just _snacking_!" he protested.

Everyone immediately laughed hard, commenting that Rudy was a glutton for not satisfied with two portions of big burger.

**#**

"Welcome home, Rudy, Kris!" Mother Elena, the head of the orphanage greeted and smiled sunnily as both Kris and Rudy entered her office.

Rudy and Kris decided to give their respect to her after they entered the house before they had breakfast together with the whole family. Elena was Rudy's surrogate mother for the majority of his childhood and teenage life before he was adopted by Aragon. As always she looked elegant and beautiful with her white long dress, despite her age. She still looked like she was thirty instead of fifty. She had the most stunning rose blond hair and the purest lilac eyes that both Kris and Rudy had ever seen. In short, like a goddess, she seemed ageless.

"Mother Elena," Rudy sent her a sentimental smile as she stood over her chair and walked around her desk to welcome him with a gentle hug. She then turned to Kris after letting go of Rudy and then hugged him as well, as gently, and no less favorably.

"We missed you, Mother," Kris said, closing his eyes as he hugged her back with both arms, feeling her motherly warmth and not even bit embarrassed to call her 'mother' because she was no less of a mother to him than his own biological one, especially when he was here, at Elena's house.

Mother Elena had regarded Kris one of her children since he was still a snotty elementary boy, visiting Rudy's home for the first time to do a class project together. She had been really kind to him, made him cookies and treated him to ice cream even though he was only a guest, comforted him while treating his wound when he fell down and scrapped his knees after he played tag with Rudy and the others.

"I missed you both silly boys too," she was still smiling as she let him go, her eyes suspiciously watery. She was as easily moved as usual. "How have you been?"

"We're good," Kris answered. "No one got seriously injured or sick this year. Our studies went smoothly as well," he continued, still holding her hand gently with his own.

"Thank god for that. You both always have a knack to attract trouble one way or another after all. I'm glad that you're living a healthy and fun live out there." Elena chuckled elegantly, looking at Rudy and Kris' eyes fondly.

Rudy chuckled sheepishly and Kris looked down, trying not to look too guilty that what he said wasn't _everything_. He didn't lie exactly, no one got seriously injured in the tussle of the Four Lords' incident, but they got into _trouble_ alright, especially Kris, because this world Kris was currently occupying his body in his original, more dangerous world, fighting monsters and dealing with a very evil version of Dellons. He couldn't help feeling rather sorry for the guy. He hoped he was still alive there. Well, he'd better be. Kris would be very pissed off if when he came back to his own body he ended up dying because his counterpart couldn't take care of it.

"And I'm so glad you can make it here again this year, both of you. The dance party tomorrow night wouldn't be as joyous without you here."

There was a slight pause before both he and Rudy looked at her, rather perplexed. "A dance party?" Rudy raised his eyebrows. "That's… different from the usual party," he mumbled.

"Will it involve an actual dance?" Kris asked, still bemused.

Elena giggled at them both. "Of course there will be an actual dance if by actual you mean _waltz_. Oh, and costumes, don't forget costumes. It's Evan's idea. There will be princes and princesses and knights in this party. I couldn't refuse his request since this will be his birthday party as well," she continued.

"Uh, but we don't actually bring any costume…" A bead of sweat rolled down Rudy's face as Kris mouthed at himself disbelievingly. A costume party with _waltz_ , seriously. Kris didn't think he would still be dealing with _balls_ in this world. He had had enough in his original world after all.

"Don't worry, my dear, the costumes are ready. All the girls and the nuns made them according to your sizes that you sent previously. They will match you stature perfectly," Elena tittered happily and both Kris and Rudy could only chuckled slightly at how happy she seemed to be. She must have been quite amused then.

So that was why Rudy had asked for Kris' size two weeks ago. Mother Elena must have sent him the message to ask and to send back to her after he got it.

"Well, have you boys eaten yet? I was about to go down to have breakfast with the other kids," Elena said and both Kris and Rudy reacted at that at the same time.

"That's right. We were here to ask you down for a breakfast together…" Kris looked at Rudy, raising his eyebrow as Rudy blinked at him, pausing, before he chuckled and Kris snorted lightly, and then they laughed together, feeling funny that they had said the same line at the same time.

Elena just chuckled at them for being so entertaining.

**#**

"Seriously, though, no one said anything about a dance party." Rudy moaned slightly as he sat on his bed in his old room.

Right after breakfast, both Kris and Rudy retreated to Rudy's room to put down their bags. Another twin sized bedding was situated beside his bed, since Kris would spend the night there as well. Usually Kris would have his own room, but since the usual room for Kris was repurposed as Karin's, he had to share with Rudy, hence the makeshift bed.

Kris stared at the bedding dubiously. Oh no, he was used to share a room with Rudy when he was still a child, but after he went into puberty? Not so much. He didn't trust himself not to make the situation _weird_ , since… you know, an elephant sized crush he harbored for his best friend? Yeah, this could only end badly for him, especially for his dignity.

"A waltz… I can't believe I still have to do that here," Kris shook his head, trying to shake off his mind from the previous disturbing thought.

 _Take a deep breath, Kris. You will not make this weird. Rudy is your best friend, and it's not like you will share a bed with him. Get a grip of yourself!_ —Kris shook his head once again for a good measure as he sat on his bedding, after putting down his bag at the dresser.

"Well, at least you had a formal lesson to do that _before_ ," Rudy sighed. "I'm always going to be worried trying not to step on my partner's toe."

Kris chuckled at that. "You're not trying to rope me into teaching you how to dance, are you?"

Rudy went suspiciously quiet and Kris had to raise his eyebrows as he glanced at him. Rudy's face was a bit pink. "Wait, you are?" That was a surprise.

"No, no, no! I'll figure it out! I'm not trying to manipulate you into anything!" Rudy denied, covering his reddening face with both hands, still steaming in embarrassment.

Kris had to summon his will power not to laugh at how _adorable_ Rudy was at the moment. He just shook his head again as he tossed a pillow at Rudy's head. "You're a very terrible liar." He couldn't help smiling fondly as Rudy squeaked when the pillow collided with his head.

"Ouch, come on, Kris!" Rudy laughed then, tossing the pillow back at Kris who expertly dodged it. Rudy's grin was contagious though, and Kris couldn't help chuckling with him after that.

**#**

"Oh, hey Kris, big bro Rudy!" Ariel waved at them to come closer when both he and Rudy wandered down to the living room. The girls, Ariel, Yuri, Helenia, Heavenia, Yui and Karin were sitting together near the hearth with a pile of clothes around their feet.

"Oh, what are these?" Rudy approached them with curiosity in his eyes as Kris raised his eyebrows, guessing that the clothes around the girls were costumes for the party tomorrow night.

"These are costumes for our party tomorrow!" Yuri answered excitedly.

"We already made a lot. Of course your costumes as well, Rudy, Kris! Come here for a bit and help us do the final fitting!" Yui added, her eyes sparkling.

"Whoah, you guys made these by yourself?" Rudy sat down beside Ariel and reached to touch one of the costumes, or part of them judging from the layers. "This is quite impressive. The detail is quite exquisite," he whistled slightly as he spread open the costume. It was a cape with hood, black with hints of tatters at the wits-end. A silver clip on the shoulder part to attach it to the armor-patterned dress robe under it. The dress-robe was also black with silvery threads that looked a lot like 'ribs and spine'.

Kris got an impression that that costume was _his_ since it resembled his own armor back in his original world. He wondered if it was just coincidence or whether this world Kris had a thing for skulls or bones that everyone seemed to know and expect him to wear clothes with those patters on them.

"Is that mine?" Kris asked after he sighed lightly, following Rudy to sit beside Karin. The girl seemed to tense slightly before she made an effort to relax herself, then she glanced at Kris, as if to make sure that he spoke to hear instead of the others. Kris almost rolled his eyes, but he looked at her to reassure her that yes, he was talking to her.

"Oh, um… yes," Karin coughed slightly, her cheeks turning slightly pink, averting her eyes from him shyly. She was very shy indeed. Well, at least she wasn't as obnoxious as Yuri tended to be when she was excited. The orange haired girl was flailing her hands as she explained to Rudy their effort to make the costume one by one. Rudy always indulged her when she was on a roll, with Ariel and Yui adding comments here and there to verify some jargon that Rudy might have no reference about because teenage girls' speech sometimes confused him.

"Are you helping them with the costume as well?" Kris asked Karin again because she seemed to be content in watching the others interact, like she wasn't in the circle.

"What?" She turned to look at him again, looking perplexed, like she was confused why he was still talking to her. "Oh, um, I-… yes," she flushed even more, nodding slightly and trying to shift her gaze again, away from his.

Kris waited for her to continue, but she didn't seem about to. He inwardly sighed and asked again, "Did you embroider the armor pattern?"

"Um, no? That was Hellenia. She's very good with sewing and stitching," Karin answered slowly. "I, uh… I did the designing, actually," her voice became a lot smaller at the end, her face so red like she had no confidence at all in her work.

_Oh boy. Low self-esteem much?_

"Well, I like your design. How did you know I have a thing for skulls and bones?" Kris gave her a small smile and she squeaked, blushing even harder.

"T-thank you… um, I didn't actually know, but when I saw your picture you seemed to be the kind of guy to… I just guessed," she stuttered cutely, covering her crimson face, which was steaming as well.

Kris couldn't help almost chuckling at that sweet view. She was very shy indeed, but it was cute. Kris reached his hand to pat her head and she flinched slightly before she looked upward at him, seeing his smile and flushing some more, stuttering again.

When Kris turned away from her and looked upward at the others, because they had become suspiciously quiet, he found the others staring at him silently with wonder in their eyes, except for Rudy whose expression was unreadable for some reason. "What?" He raised one of his eyebrows.

"Kris, you _dog_ ," Yuri smirked at him with twinkling eyes. "It's not even a day and you manage to make our shy new girl swoon." She laughed heartily and the other girls giggled at him, sans Karin who squeaked again and covered her steaming face more.

Kris rolled his eyes. "I was just talking to her." He stated, not really complaining as the other girls started to tease him and Karin about how he was so smooth in flirting as always while he denied it drily.

Rudy hadn't said anything and Kris felt that it was weird that he was so quiet about it. Usually he would jump into the fray to tease Kris as well for being a Casanova or something, joining in his sisters' humor. He smiled though, even though it looked almost wistful. Kris didn't have time to ponder too much about it as he was pulled by Heavenia to try the costume.

"Let us know if it needs something else to perfect it," she pushed the dress-robe, the pants and the cape to Kris' hand before pushing him into one of the room to change clothes. "You don't have to come out using the costume, though. We want to be surprised tomorrow night after all."

Kris almost asked how he would know whether or not it was perfect if she didn't see it on him for herself. But he thought the better of it and shrugged. He would just try the costume first.

After done changing, Kris looked at himself on the full body mirror and he couldn't help widening his eyes slightly at the reflection that stared back at him from the mirror. "Oh."

It had been awhile since he saw himself in this kind of getup, and there was a strange ache as he gazed at his so very familiar look in the mirror. The cape, the hood, the armor—even though it was only patterned dress-robe, it brought back memories of his time as the hell lord.

Kris chuckled a bit at the thought. Hell lord. He kind of missed it. He missed the life in Asgar. He missed _his_ Rudy and the other Seven Knights, except maybe the evil incarnation that was the original Dellons. He wondered if he would be able to come _home_ , back to where he belonged.

Kris looked at his bare hands. The costume could use some black gloves. That would be more authentic. He let out a small sigh then, before starting to undo his costume. He looked upward once again to the mirror and froze, widened his eyes once again as the reflection stared back at him. However, instead of mirroring Kris' expression and motion, his reflection opened his mouth and said something that he couldn't hear. His reflection moved closer to the mirror and put his gloved palms on the glass. His expression full of concern and Kris almost couldn't believe at the conclusion he drew from this crazy situation.

His counterpart was at the other side of the mirror.

Kris hurried closer to the mirror and stared at his reflection more carefully. He put his bare hands right on his counterpart's gloves on the glass and his reflection looked like he was relieved that Kris acknowledged his existence.

"How in the world…!" Kris started to speak, still partly in astonishment and disbelief, but his counterpart shook his head before he pointed at his own ear. It seemed that he couldn't hear Kris either. "You are in so much trouble, Mister," he huffed, scowling at his reflection as the other winced, seeming to understand that Kris was less than happy with their circumstance.

The other Kris looked down and closed his eyes as he rested his forehead on the glass. He opened his mouth again, and Kris was trying to make out his words despite not being good at reading lips movement. "Can't hear you," Kris said after narrowing his eyes and pointing at his own ear too and his counterpart looked slightly stricken at that.

After a few seconds, the other Kris tilted his head, like he heard something from somewhere outside of Kris' line of sight. He pulled back from the glass soon after and Kris immediately reacted, "Wait—!" but he stopped as his reflection stared back at him once again, mouthing something that he still couldn't hear, but could read from his remorseful expression.

" _I am sorry."_

"Easy for you to say. I want to-" Yet when Kris blinked, it was gone.

The reflection that stared back at Kris was his own this time, with the same disgruntled expression, the same scowl, and the same motion, down to the last detail.

"Seriously… what was _that_ about?" Kris held down the urge to smash the mirror with his fist.

It was still shocking that Kris' counterpart could actually make a contact with him via mirror. How did he do that? The science in his original world was indeed probably more advanced since they had _magic_ infused in it, but Kris Tenebra (his counterpart from this world) was also the one that built that device that had enhanced the energy of a magnetic field, strong enough to rip the membrane that separated this reality from _that_ reality. Did he tell someone from his original world that they were swapped? Who gave him access to all the information and science of space and time continuum from his world?

 _How… how can I help from this side of reality?_ —Kris closed his eyes as he bumped his head on the mirror, frustrated.

Goddess, he felt so homesick. Even with all the memories and knowledge of his counterpart's life, stored in his brain and ready to be accessed all he wanted, Kris was still aware that _this_ wasn't exactly _his_ life.

_I want to go home._

**#**

Rudy was carefully watching after Kris got out from the room with his costume in his hand. He told Ariel and the girls that it would be more authentic with black gloves and Heavenia stood up to look for some to complement it. Kris was more subdued as he sat back beside Karin. He didn't make small talk to her again. Or… precisely, he didn't talk to anyone again after that.

Kris' expression was thoughtful, if not slightly disturbed. Rudy wondered what made him wear such expression, but when Rudy caught Kris' eyes, he averted his face away from Rudy immediately, and Rudy felt that painful ache in his heart.

 _Is Kris still mad at me after all? Am I responsible for that expression?_ —Rudy hadn't gotten a verbal confirmation that Kris had forgiven him. Kris already talked to him again, laughed lightly with him even, but it might just be because Kris felt he had no choice despite his anger.

What if that was really the case? What if Kris merely tolerated his presence instead of wanting to be here? Rudy should have known that Kris was a very private person. He was totally stupid for thinking that he was entitled to know everything about Kris just because he was his best friend. Rudy should have _known_ that. And yet…

Rudy had violated Kris' trust. Why should Kris forgive the transgression?

Rudy regretted it immensely. He would do anything, _anything_ at all to earn Kris' forgiveness. He didn't want to lose his best friend. What should he do?

"Hey, big bro?"

Ariel's voice calling him surprised Rudy a bit. He looked upward at her with a jolt. "Yeah? What is it, Ariel?" He shook his head slightly to distract himself from his guilt.

Ariel looked at his face closely before she turned to look at Kris. "What's going on with you and Kris?" she asked, as sharp as always with her observation, but not unkindly.

Rudy winced slightly that he was so transparent, even his sister could see it so clearly that there was something _wrong_ with his and Kris' relationship. Well, Rudy was never the best liar, but his transparency would be his doom someday.

Rudy took a deep breath before sighing despondently. "I did something stupid," he said, intending fully to confide in his sister of how truly a fool he had been. Foolish, insensitive, _jerk_.

He told her about how he and his friends tailed Kris when he had specifically asked to be left alone with his appointment. Then they made a fool of themselves for misunderstanding the whole situation, storming into the place where he thought Kris was held against his will, and humiliated him because their assumption had been wrong and that they had ruined a potential attempt from Kris to make new friends.

Though, seeing that Kris went to see Ace alone and Ace handing him some kind of present clearly told Rudy that Kris was successful in making friends with one of the Four Lords, if not _more_ than friends. Rudy hadn't asked about that. He didn't dare, fearing the repercussion it could cause.

Rudy was also troubled about the ache in his chest whenever he thought Kris was with other people, the ugly feeling that he experienced, like he wanted to hurt those people, but he didn't tell Ariel about that part because it was irrational. He feared that he was becoming a bad person.

"Have you apologized?" Ariel asked, seeming rather confused.

"I have," Rudy nodded. "But I think… I think that was the line I shouldn't cross at all in the first place. Kris is a forgiving person… but the one thing he can't forgive… is a betrayal to his trust."

**End of Round 8 Part 1**

**Tbc…**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry… the word-count got monstrous I had to cut it in 2 parts. The teaser from previous chapter will come up in the next round in part 2 of this subtitle. It will be a turning point somehow. I promised it won't be long until the end. Con-crit?


	10. Round 9: Lit A Fire in your Heart 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally... the turning point in here!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, Knights! I'm back with the new round for this story! I Hope it hasn't been that long… oh, who am I kidding? Sorry for being so late in posting this. I only just got the time to do so. Anyway, just ignore my babble and here's round 9… FIGHT!  
>  **Disclaimer and Warning: _See prologue…_**

**A Gift from A Far Away World—a Seven Knights Fan Fiction**

**© lunaryu~**

**Round 9: Lit a Fire in your Heart (Part 2)**

* * *

_**At Heart Jewel orphanage, afternoon—** _

Kris was leisurely sitting on an armchair at the patio of the orphanage, enjoying afternoon slightly chilly breeze as he observed the game of tag the younger children played at the front yard. Yui and Snipper seemed to have too much fun running after each other, while the slightly older boy and girl—Evan and Yuri— were watching to make sure no one ended falling and getting hurt.

Rudy was entertaining Li with a game of _blind_ chess. It was amazing how the smaller boy could remember every move he made on the board while Rudy seemed to have to put so much effort in remembering his own as his eyes were covered with a layer of cloth to prevent him from seeing the chessboard. Hellenia and Heavenia dutifully moved the chess pieces per Rudy and Li's request while gossiping.

Kris looked aside slightly and found Karin on the sideline, a bit further away from Evan and Yuri, also watching the kids. However, Kris noticed her periodical glance at Evan and Yuri talking for a few seconds before she seemed to remember herself, blushed and quickly moved her gaze away from them, back to the kids. She looked kind of down, though, like she wanted to join them but didn't have any courage to approach them.

Kris had no idea why he thought about this. It was just… well, Evan was too much like Rudy in some ways, and he had a feeling that Karin had a thing for Evan. Remembering their short conversation after he and Rudy tried the costumes earlier…

_Yuri was still teasing Kris and the blushing Karin when Evan showed up in the living room._

" _What's going on here?" the brunet asked, frowning as he looked at Karin covering her steaming face while whimpering, Kris letting out a long suffering sigh and Yuri cackling. Hellenia, Heavenia, Yui, and Ariel just chuckled and Rudy made a forced awkward smile. "Ah, Yuri! You're teasing Karin again, aren't you?" Evan immediately accused, like it was a recurrent event. "Sheesh, I told you to tone down the teasing. Karin is very shy, you know."_

_Evan sounded just like Rudy when he was reprimanding Dellons after he teased Kris too far, and the way Karin looked at the boy with adoringly grateful expression as Yuri turned her mocking face and attention to Evan and away from her just then was too much reminiscence of what Kris often did in the past._

" _T-thanks, Evan," Karin whispered softly, her face still red but she was smiling happily and Evan blinked once at her before he grinned so brilliantly that Kris was reminded once again of how Rudy usually behaved._

It was probably too farfetched to consider Evan's feeling for the new girl as romantic since he was still a kid, and Kris had a strong suspicion that Evan was as dense as Rudy in this field. He felt slightly bad for her. She was in the same shoes as Kris after all.

Kris turned his gaze back to Evan, where Yuri was hugging his arm and smiling at him lovingly now. Kris raised an eyebrow at seeing Evan smile awkwardly while conspicuously try to pull his arm back from her, his eyes darting to Karin's position repeatedly.

 _Huh. Not as dense as I thought after all_ —Kris moved his attention to Karin again, and now she looked down at the ground, smiling solemnly, not noticing how Evan looked at her. _Not dense at all. He definitely notices Karin. But he doesn't seem to know how to handle the 'triangle' part, huh? Since apparently Yuri has a thing for him too_ —Kris smirked. This would get interesting soon.

In the absence of Dellons' scheming, Kris plotted.

**~ # ~**

"Have you all decided your first partner for the dance tomorrow night?"

Mother Elena asked during dinner, which caused everyone's attention to shift from their food to her instantaneously.

"Of course!" Yuri was the first to answer in exclamation. "We are so totally paired up for the dance! Right, Evan dear?" She grinned while snatching Evan's arm again in an excited, too tight embrace, which caused Evan to wince slightly.

"Uh, we are?" Evan asked uncertainly, seeming to try to shake her hug again.

"Of course we are!" She wasn't about to take no for an answer apparently, and Evan could only sigh as he failed to retrieve his arm back. Karin, who was sitting on the other side of Evan looked at them for three seconds before she looked down at her soup, expression resigned.

Rudy looked like he had something to say too. He turned to Kris, who glanced back at him with a raised eyebrow. He opened his mouth, but then his voice caught and he closed it again. His expression was hard to discern. It was like he was trying to collect his courage by rephrasing his words in his head and had ample trouble to spit them out.

Kris scowled on the inside while he shook his head slightly before he turned his gaze to Karin again. He decided that this plan could get him two birds with one stone.

"Hey, Karin," he called to get her attention. As soon as she looked at him, Kris made a disarming smile and asked, "Would you mind becoming my first dance tomorrow night?"

All the occupants of the room got silenced, their eyes bugged out (except Li whose eyebrows raised to his non-existent hairline), mouth slightly open while they were gaping at him (except Elena who was too graceful for such gestures, but she looked very surprised with one of her hand in front of her mouth).

The silence continued that Kris got annoyed. "What?" He turned his gaze to the others before everyone (especially the girls) exploded in excitement.

"Oh my God! Kris, that's so bold!" Heavenia covered her blushing cheeks.

"Kyaaa! Congratulation, Karin!" Hellenia hugged the smaller girl—which seemed to be still in too much of a bewilderment to respond—beside her with misplaced enthusiasm.

"Aww! I'm envious!" Ariel bemoaned, but with humor and mirth in her tone and expression.

"I knew it! Kris, you absolute _dog_! I knew you got your eyes on her!" Yuri chortled again, still in full teasing mode, but more certain than ever.

"I never thought of Kris having _fast_ hands," Snipper's sweat dropped while Li chuckled and Yui giggled. Even mother Elena tittered, glimmer of hilarity in her eyes. Rudy and Evan were the only ones still gaping, seemingly not over their shock yet.

Kris, once again, let out long suffering sigh. "I was just asking her for a first dance. Is that such a big deal?" He almost rolled his eyes. Sheesh, teenagers. Well, except for Mother Elena, but who could blame her for the opportunity to tease Kris anyway?

"Well, it's you!" Evan suddenly exclaimed, finally seeming to get over his shock, his tone still disbelieving and lightly accusing. "Who are you and what have you done to Kris?!"

"Evan! That's rude!" Rudy, apparently already back to catch up with reality again, scolded Evan with a bead of sweat rolling down his cheek.

Kris decided to ignore them all and focused his gaze back on Karin. "How is it, Karin?" he asked again and everyone seemed to hold their breath, waiting for her reaction.

"Eh?" Karin's face flushed again, so bad that the steam was almost visible to the naked eyes. "B-but I… I can't really… dance…" She looked down, her face looking like she was about to combust. Kris felt rather bad for getting her cornered in dinner table and putting her in the spotlight. She seemed like a girl who had a social phobia. He should have more tact in asking her to dance in a more private setting. But what was done was done, so he continued to bargain.

"That's perfectly fine. I can teach you how to. Do you want to practice with me after dinner?"

Some of the girls made a suspicious unbearable whining noises, but he was determined to ignore them.

"Uh, I-…" Karin, still very much blushing on her entire face, ears and neck glanced at Evan who stared at Kris with indecipherable gaze and Yuri who was still clinging to his arm, before she looked down once again and seemed to steel her mind and nodded slightly. "Okay."

"Oh my, that's so sweet!" Hellenia hugged Karin once more while her twin giggled at the lavender-haired girl heartily. The others chuckled as well, except for Evan who instantly whirled to look at Karin in incredulity and Rudy who never averted his eyes from Kris after he scolded Evan earlier.

"Alright then. We can practice in your room if you prefer to do it in private," Kris suggested which seemed to be suggestive in nature, but never in his voice or expression. Still, he didn't escape Mother Elena's sudden sharp gaze and he was immediately reminded about the _no boys allowed in girls' room_ policy. "Or we can just do it in the living room," he amended immediately and Mother Elena softened her expression.

"Okay," Karin nodded once again, still blushing but with a shy smile on her face.

"You guys are _welcome_ to watch," Kris addressed the others, but his eyes specifically lingered on Evan before he glanced at Rudy who made a difficult expression again.

"Well, I won't miss this for sure," Evan grumbled lightly, his eyes sharp on Kris who smirked inwardly while Yuri was whining that she needed to practice as well and they should all practice together for maximum efficacy.

_Definitely will get interesting._

**~ # ~**

"First, we have to know the manner of formal dancing," Kris started as he and Karin stood in the middle of the living room. The others seemed to be interested in watching, either for their amusement or seriously learning the formal dancing from the top.

"Before the dance started, both partners stand in front of each other and pay respect to each other," Kris made a gesture to bow with one left arm bent in front of his torso and right arm spread to his side, a gesture from the leading role. "For the follower's part, if you wear a long dress, you can hold part of your skirt in both your hands and lift them slightly as you bow, like this." Then Kris made a perfect example of bowing like a lady and Rudy made a chocking sound from the sofa.

Kris turned slightly to see the red-faced coughing man whose back was slapped repeatedly by Snipper, who seemed worried, while the girls giggled amusedly. Luckily, Karin seemed to be determined to learn that she ignored them and focused on Kris.

 _Who'd have thought? When she's focused, she doesn't seem to be embarrassed at all_ —Kris praised inwardly while nodding.

"Next, both partners move once step closer to each other and put their hands on their partner's assigned body parts. For the leading role, they put their left hand on their partner's waist while the other hand on their left hand. As for the follower, they put their right hand on the leading partner's shoulder." Kris made a gesture to Karin to practice the position and she let herself be maneuvered with minimal resistance despite the occasional flinch and jolt as Kris' hand touched her waist and hand. "Okay?" he made sure that he had her consent to continue and she nodded.

Someone whistled in the background, probably Yuri, followed by more giggles. At last Rudy didn't choke and cough this time.

"Are you familiar with waltz dance steps?" Kris asked before he released her from their position.

"Y-yes. I mean, I've ever seen the sequence in video," Karin answered.

"Have you done it yourselves?" Karin shook her head and Kris nodded. "Alright. Wait for a minute."

Kris left the room to fetch a chalk from one of the cabinets in the kitchen. He was back inside the living room moments later, drawing step sequence on the floorboard. "Can you follow the sequence on the floor according to the number?"

Finished with the drawing, Kris looked upward to Karin and she nodded. Kris stood up and let Karin tried the sequence. "Since I am the leading role, you start your sequence by moving to number three. The pace is one, two, three, one, two, three…"

Karin followed the pace Kris had set up while practicing her step. She was a fast learner and had a graceful movement, so in no time, she seemed to get the hang on the step-sequence. "Very good. You have the basic covered now," Kris praised and she blushed as her step faltered slightly before she timed herself once more and got back on track. "Easily distracted, but you got a great start," he chuckled. Karin's face got redder, but she didn't make any more mistake.

"Next step is timing with the music." Kris said, turning to Heavenia and Hellenia who brought him an old tape recorder and a cassette of classical music. "Waltz?" he asked and they both nodded.

They started the music and a familiar tune of slow song filled the room. "Can you time the 'one, two, three' with the song? You can use your foot to tap to get the timing right," he said and Karin nodded as she tapped with one of her feet in time with the pace of the song. She had good grasp in timing her pace and soon her taps were in tune with the music and Kris nodded again in approval.

"You got it. Now you can try the step-sequence with music," Kris instructed and she immediately entered the steps while mumbling 'one, two, three' in soft, barely audible voice, in tune with the pace of the music.

After Kris deemed Karin passable with her basic, he offered to dance with her for a practice run. "Care to dance with me, Milady?" Kris bowed perfectly like a gentleman and she flushed as she accepted with her slightly awkward bow since she wasn't wearing a dress at the moment.

They followed every rule and step in a slow dance and soon there was a perfect pair of dancing people in the living room that made everyone stare since apparently the movement was very elegant and beautiful and no one would consider one of them had just learned the steps _today_.

"You're good already," Kris said, closing his eyes and losing himself in the dance and the music. He thought this would be terrible, but it was enjoyable after all. It had been awhile since he danced and teaching Karin the steps made him remember his own practice way back then.

"T-thank you… for doing this for me," Karin whispered in the middle of the dance and she looked a bit conflicted before Kris realized that she might have thought that Kris was really interested in her. Kris chuckled.

"No problem. I'm just trying to help," Kris said, leaning her face down slightly to whisper in her ear. "At least Evan does look like he's jealous of _me_."

Surprised, _shocked_ , Karin's steps faltered and her face color became the spitting image of a tomato as Kris chuckled and tightened his grip on her waist to make sure she didn't trip on her own feet.

"I-I-… _how_?" Karin looked mortified and Kris chuckled again, lifted her waist and twirled her to hide her expression from the others.

"Well, everyone is _not_ subtle with their interest," Kris sighed ruefully. "You're having difficult time getting in between Yuri's tenacity to seduce _and_ Evan."

"I-I am _not_ trying to get in between them!" She protested albeit in low tone, still flushing so much he wondered if it was healthy.

"Well, maybe not, but you _like_ Evan, right?" He pulled her back to his arm before dipping her for a moment, and continued to dance some more. Karin had to put her forehead on Kris' chest to hide her expression again, seeming to be stalling for the obvious answer.

"You're not alone in that regard. Evan just need a little push to make his move. Be sure to save your last dance for him," Kris said again softly before he gradually slowed his steps and then stopped even though the music was still playing. He let go of her waist and hand and stepped back. "You are ready for tomorrow night," he said a bit more loudly, purposely changing the subject, and signaled Heavenia to shut the music down.

"Uh, I-…"

"See you tomorrow," Kris smiled, before she or anyone could say anything, turned away, took a tissue from the table and knelt to clean the chalk-drawing on the floorboard. Then he stood up once again and left the room after disposing the dirty tissue on the trash bin.

**~ # ~**

Kris was playing with cubic puzzle absentmindedly, eyes not even looking at the cube in his hands, but at the glass part of the ceiling when Rudy entered the room. Kris only spared him a quick glance before his eyes went back upward, looking at the twinkling stars which were quite visible since there was no cloud in the night sky.

Rudy was quiet as he moved to his own bed, sitting down, his eyes trained on Kris once or twice before he opened his mouth. "Hey, Kris."

"What is it, Rudy?"

"You… are you really interested in Karin?" Rudy seemed hesitant as he asked. Kris stopped his hands before he turned his head to face Rudy, who didn't look at Kris but at the spot over Kris' shoulder. He seemed nervous.

Kris kept silent for a minute or two, contemplating how to answer. Should he tell him the truth that he only wanted to help her gain Evan's attention or keep the scheming to himself and implement this to bait Rudy's reaction for Kris' own gain? It sounded quite manipulative, but Kris never considered himself having pure intention all the time, so he shrugged and decided to choose the latter.

"What if I am?" Kris observed Rudy's expression. The brunet looked surprised before he opened his mouth.

"Uh, I thought you were interested in Ace?"

Kris narrowed his gaze at Rudy, mood darkening suddenly. "What was that?" Kris swore if Rudy tailed him again without him knowing, he was going to punch him in the face. No matter if Kris liked him.

Rudy shook his head, seeming to catch up on his suspicion. "I didn't follow you! I swear! Just… when I was looking a gift for Evan, I happened to see you in front of a café. Then, Ace came out and both of you walked together after he gave you something. Rachel thought you were on a date, so we didn't greet you…" Rudy was trailing off, fidgeting apprehensively.

"You two went shopping together?" Kris knew exactly why he was more pissed about that fact instead of his secret meeting with Ace not being a secret anymore since Rudy and Rachel saw them. At the time, Ace was only there to give Kris' AI super notebook back to him. All the programs were cleared of suspicion on the multiverse case.

Kris was jealous. Of _Rachel_. That was quite pathetic and it annoyed him more to admit that to himself so easily.

"No, we met at the store accidentally. She helped me pick Evan's gift after that," Rudy answered, looking a bit relieved somehow.

Kris scrutinized Rudy for a minute before he nodded. "Alright," he said, going back to his cubic puzzle.

There was awkward silence for a few second before Rudy opened his mouth again. "So… you're not… interested in Ace?"

"Rudy, he's just an acquaintance," Kris responded slowly, not looking at him.

"Okay, but you're interested in Karin?" Rudy repeated his question and Kris sighed, putting down the complete puzzle before he glanced at Rudy again.

"What is it with you? You have never had such interest about my relationship before," Kris grumbled slightly, feigning annoyance, but he was very interested in the reason of Rudy's sudden awareness of Kris' love life. Well, Kris didn't have any previously, so it could be because of that, and that Rudy was just looking out for him as his best friend, but a person could hope.

"I…" Rudy didn't seem to know the answer to that question. "I am just curious, I guess. I mean, you didn't have any interest in this sort of thing before, and I think I just… want to look out for you," he smiled, a bit brittle, but quite sincere nonetheless.

Kris looked at Rudy in silence for ten seconds before responding. "I see." He was disappointed, but Rudy was Rudy. His goodwill was always genuine and Kris couldn't hate him for that. Moreover, facing such honesty from his best friend, Kris already felt terrible for lying (even though it had only been for a few minutes) and he decided he didn't want to worry Rudy any more than he had to.

"For the record, I am interested in Karin because Evan seems too, and he just needs a little push to make a move," Kris explained and Rudy's face immediately cleared, a hint of smile creeping at the corner of his mouth.

"I see," Rudy grinned then. "Somebody is being a busy body."

Kris scowled. "I don't want to hear that from you, mother-hen." Rudy just laughed at that, looking like he had just won something. Kris couldn't help smiling albeit secretly.

**~#~**

It was finally the big night in the Heart Jewel orphanage. Everyone seemed giddy and excited as they prepared for the dance party. The staff of the orphanage and the children went all out on the decoration and the food. Even Mother Elena was singing and swaying as she put the final touch of flowers pot in the big dining table.

"Alright children, time for you all to change into your costumes. We'll start the party at 7 p.m." Mother Elena said and the chorus of 'okay' from the children, teenagers and both Rudy and Kris were heard before they dispersed to their respective rooms.

Rudy was the first to come back to the dining room, together with Heavenia and Ariel, since they were Rudy's first dance partners for the night as the number of people participating in the dance didn't add up.

"You look beautiful, Heavenia," Rudy smiled, noticing her trying to fix the hem of her dress for the 4th time after he picked her up in front of her room.

"I think my sis messed the tassels of my skirt," Heavenia said, face flushing slightly.

"Your skirt looks great," Rudy chuckled, amused by how self-conscious she was with her dress.

"Doesn't it look too short? I'm worried I'm going to flash someone when I dance later," she pulled down the tassels again, trying to make it cover her knees.

"Then you should wear leggings under it if you're that worried," Ariel suggested and Heavenia beamed at her while exclaiming that it was a good idea before she turned back and ran to her room to do just that.

Another pair came in as Heavenia stepped out of the dining room.

"Oh, hey Yui, Li." Rudy greeted.

Yui made a surprised but pleased squeal as she saw him. "Rudy! You look so dashing with that armor-like costume!" She squealed again as she run to him and hugged him.

"Ahaha, I'm glad that the shoulder pieces are made of stretchy material. I'm surprised they can be a bit stiff despite rather bendy. And the head-piece… it's made from helmet right? The decoration is really detailed. It rather scares me to wear it lest I break them accidentally," Rudy chuckled, swinging Yui around.

"Nah, I bet Karin's design is flawless. She's very good at it," Ariel quipped from beside him, smiling.

"Yea. Heard she designed clothes for doll when she was in Japan as a hobby and a part time job. She has eyes for picking up material that goes well with her design too. I believe she can go pro if not for her timid personality," Yui remarked, twirling around showing off her fluffy, pink dress, completed with fluffy bunny ears and red-cherries hair ornaments. The overall costume made her look very adorable.

Li's costume was more traditional. It was oriental-like in soft brown-red color, complemented with black in sleeves, collar and chest area. It was like Chinese formal attire with sash on his waits and long black pants.

"You look good, Li," Rudy complimented as Ariel spoke more to Yui.

"Thank you," Li smiled back softly.

"So… where's everyone else?" Rudy asked, looking around, but before anyone could answer him, people started to trickle into the dining room pair by pair.

First were Elena and the staff, then followed by Snipper and Helenia.

Snipper wore a royal blue dress robe with gold chain on the chest and a red cape. Hellenia wore a pink one-piece dress with wide golden ribbons tied to her waist, and dress ornament on the chest and skirt part. Golden tiara was perched on her head, framing the shape and her hair nicely. They greeted Rudy, Li and Yui as they came in.

Next was Evan and Yuri. Evan's costume, like Rudy thought, was dominant in silver, with jagged edges here and there and big diamond-like ornament on the chest. He forego his head piece though. Yuri's costume was white sleeveless dress with sparkling Chrystal ornament on the surface and on her hair.

"Did you dye your hair blue?" Rudy asked as he stared baffled at her silvery-blue hair now.

"Silver blue," she corrected with a grin.

A short time later, Heavenia returned with a pair of leggings under her too short skirt. "This way I won't have to worry about flashing," she smiled before reasserting her place beside Rudy who laughed slightly.

The last to come down and entered the dining room was Kris and Karin. Karin's pink and purple long dress was magnificent, alright, all the girls, even Snipper and especially Evan, looked stunned before complimenting her enthusiastically, but Rudy's sight was too focused on Kris to notice more than the color of her costume.

Rudy widened his eyes, feeling his heart almost stopped when he saw Kris in his full regalia; armor like clothes, all black and silver, the spine-like pattern, jagged shoulder piece, the black cape, and the hood. _Huh?—_ Rudy thought he had ever seen him like this before, somewhere, but he was pretty sure that it was the first time Kris wore this costume.

"Cat got your tongue, Rudy?" Kris asked, the corner of his mouth twitched up slightly.

"What? Oh," Rudy blinked once before he chuckled sheepishly. "Um, I thought I'd ever seen you with this getup. It surprised me, but I don't remember when you'd ever worn something like this…"

Kris stared at him in silence for a second before he shook his head. "I never wore something like this before," he said before smirking. "Maybe you dreamt it." There was something strange with his tone, but Rudy didn't have time to ponder about it before Elena spoke, opening the party.

"I'm glad all my children can gather here today to celebrate Evan's birthday, congratulation to Evan." Everyone applauded and Evan flushed slightly, saying thank you with a grin. "And congratulation to Yui since some nice people want to adopt her. Her paper work is being finalized as we speaks." Again, the others applauded, this time followed by Hellenia and Heavenia hugging the little girl in turns while congratulating her. "And last but not least, we'd like to welcome our newest addition to this home, Karin. Welcome, my dear. I hope we can be your family starting from now indefinitely." Elena addressed the purple haired girl and she smiled at Elena, saying thank you.

"Now, since it's the time to have fun, let's start the party with some music and dance!" Elena clapped her palms twice and the slow music started. Everyone immediately scrambled to their pair and did the formal gesturing before starting to dance.

Rudy was enjoying the dance immensely since he already knew that Kris' interest in Karin was only for helping the girl gain Evan's attention. He didn't have to worry that Kris would ask her to be his special someone.

…

 _Huh? Why am I worried about that in the first place?_ —Rudy was slightly confused as he danced and almost missed his step when he changed partner from Heavenia to Ariel, as he realized that it was rather strange to think this way. If Kris liked someone, wasn't it his right to like them? Why was Rudy worried about it?

Rudy contemplated more. He was also a bit worried when Dellons showed interest in Kris, but he wasn't really worried when Dellons dated other people. Yet, when it was Kris… whether people showing interest in him or the other way around, Rudy always felt anxious. What was the difference? Both Kris and Dellons were his best friends. What made Kris differ from Dellons in this regard?

Rudy kept contemplating until the dance and the music stopped and was distracted immediately as everyone nodded at each other in a dance well-done. Then he didn't have time to think more about it as everyone regrouped at the dining table and started with dinner. They chatted and joked. Ariel took pictures as everyone gave Evan presents. Some presents went to Yui, and some gave welcoming gifts to Karin. It was merry and fun and Rudy almost forgot about his contemplation when Evan made his move to Karin, much to Yuri's chagrin. He asked Karin to dance after dinner and Karin smiled happily as she accepted.

Rudy glanced at Kris and saw him smile approvingly at Evan and Karin as they started the slow dance. Evan whispered something in Karin's ear that made her blush, but she seemed happy and flattered.

Rudy kept his gaze on Kris until he was aware of Rudy's eyes on him and smiled at the platinum blond haired man when his eyes met him. Rudy decided to hell with it. He wanted to dance again and he wanted to dance with Kris.

Rudy stood and went over to Kris. "May I have this dance, Milord?" He extended his hand and bowed slightly, grinning at Kris.

"I was wondering when you were going to ask." Kris chuckled and took his hand as he stood. "You may," he said by the way to answer and moved to bow slightly before his other hand grasped Rudy's shoulder, informing him by gesture that Rudy would lead.

When Rudy brought Kris to the make-shift dance floor, swaying and moving with the music, the others saw them and laughed, probably thinking that this was supposed to be a joke to entertain them, but Mother Elena's knowing gaze and Ariel's startled expression clued Rudy in that this was more than that. Rudy didn't exactly want to treat it as a joke, but he wasn't sure how to treat this as something _else_ either.

"You did well in making Evan jealous," Rudy spoke softly in their dance, unable to stay silent for too long because he didn't want it to be awkward.

"Ah, that's because Evan isn't as clueless as _some people_ ," Kris looked at Rudy meaningfully, as if he was conveying some hidden message with his words.

"Some people?" Rudy tilted his head slightly, almost missing his cue to lift and twirl Kris.

"Some people," Kris repeated, but refusing to divulge further as he just smirked at Rudy. "Besides, Evan will definitely understand how she feels since Karin won't dance again with other people after this dance."

"How come?" Rudy became even more confused.

"It's the significance of the last dance in waltz." Kris gripped Rudy's shoulder more tightly as Rudy dipped him low. He lowered his eyelids and stared at Rudy with something smoldering in his ruby colored eyes and Rudy felt like he could drown in those pools of crimson.

They were so stunningly striking, Kris' eyes. Rudy completely missed his cue to straighten his partner's body again to continue their dance, attention too captured in Kris' gaze, helplessly bound and imprisoned that he no longer knew which was up, down or sideway. It was like all the noises were mute and Rudy felt this… _desire_ to diminish any distance between them.

 _What- what's going on?_ —Rudy didn't understand what was happening, he just knew it _was_ and he had no power to stop it.

Rudy almost closed his eyes when the sounds of repetitive hand claps registered in his mind and he gasped, almost jolting and releasing his hold on Kris which would resulted in dropping his partner if not for Kris' vicelike grip on his shoulder, keeping their position balanced.

"What's wrong, Rudy? You missed the dance closure," Kris slowly straightening his back again, looking at Rudy with raised eyebrows.

"I-…" Rudy didn't know how to respond to that. He had no idea what was wrong.

 _Wrong? It's wrong?_ —It was mystifying and confusing as hell since he had no idea what the 'it' was. It was like he was on the verge of figuring out something, but it eluded him in that last moment.

_What's going on with me?_

**~#~**

Kris was a bit worried when Rudy made his escape after that dance. He looked really lost at first, but then he snapped up like he was surprised and proceed to make an excruciatingly fake smile as he excused himself that he needed to go to the restroom and that he was sorry for messing up the dance closure because he was distracted by the urge to do the call of nature.

Everyone that heard the excuse, except Kris, laughed at him in good humor as he ran to the bathroom.

Kris knew though… Rudy was lying. He didn't know what was on Rudy's mind, but lying had never been in his habit to escape from conversation. Something definitely happened just then, something that made Rudy _lie_ to Kris.

 _Unbelievable_ —Kris pressed his lips thinly and returned to his seat while silently fuming.

"Sheesh, big bro Rudy has no tact sometimes," Ariel was still giggling as Kris sat down. "Don't be so angry with him, Kris. He'll cry if you're still furious when he gets back," she touched his arm, smiling soothingly at him.

"Furious? I'm not furious. I'm just perturbed," Kris frowned. What was she talking about? How come she translated his confusion into fury?

"Yeah, well, big bro still feels guilty for his last stupid decision that made you very mad. He's afraid you haven't forgiven him yet, you know? And now this, maybe he's berating himself in the bathroom right now," Ariel chuckled.

"I see," Kris nodded, finally getting it.

So Rudy still felt responsible about the last fiasco with the Four Lords. He might just remember that Kris was supposed to still be angry with him and was panicking now because he embarrassed Kris by messing up the dance closure to add the fuel.

 _Silly him. How many years has he known me again? How come he doesn't realize I already forgave him?_ —Kris clicked his tongue, maintaining his scowl for image purpose.

"As I expected, you're still angry after all?" Ariel asked ruefully.

Kris let out a long suffering sigh. "If I was still angry with him, I wouldn't come here in the first place." Kris rested his back on the backrest. "If I was really angry, it wouldn't be just him who suffered my wrath," he smirked and Ariel stared at him, sweat dropping.

"O-oh, really? Then that's great. I'm glad you and big bro made up," Ariel laughed again a bit awkwardly before she seemed to remember something. "Oh, right! Will you have a dance with me, Kris?" she asked, seemingly excited all of sudden.

"I'm sorry, Ariel. I'm beat. Maybe next time," Kris smiled at her, politely declining the invitation despite her whine of disappointment, since he had decided that Rudy would become his last dance in waltz tonight, even though Rudy didn't understand the meaning of it.

_At least I do know what it means._

* * *

**~ A Seven Knights Fan Fiction ~**

* * *

After both Rudy and Kris got back from the orphanage to their boarding house in New York, things had been a bit strange between them. Everyone in the house (including Kris himself) noticed this immediately a few days later.

Usually, it was Kris who was avoiding people when he felt uncomfortable with them, while Rudy was often known to initiate contact to establish some ground rules to eradicate the awkwardness. Now, it was like the role was reversed.

Rudy was avoiding Kris for some unfathomable reason, and Kris' temper was being tested as he failed again to catch Rudy for some _conversation_ despite the usual chatter from everyone else.

Kris almost crushed an unopened soda can when he noticed Rudy missing from dinner table the third time.

Yesterday, Rudy made excuse that he had early lesson, so he didn't eat breakfast together with Kris and the others. At lunch, Rudy said he had a plan with (the obviously protesting) Dellons, some kind of joint project that was due the day after, so he apologized that he couldn't accompany Kris, and he came home late last night because he needed to consult to his professor about the project _alone_ , apparently, since Dellons was already home before dinner and was completely asleep when Rudy arrived.

The day before yesterday, Rudy jogged longer than usual in the morning, missing breakfast, and said he had to study at lunch for a mini test in the period after it, even though he usually didn't bother with such test, and later that night, he said he had to tutor some underclassmen and that he would eat out when he was done.

This morning was no better. Rudy was already out of the house when Kris woke up. Not even Jave (the one who had breakfast duty today) knew where Rudy went. He didn't even show up at lunch and didn't bother to make another excuse, and now after Kris worked hard on making dinner, the guy was still _missing_ without any contact. It wasn't like Rudy at all. He was seriously acting strange and it pissed Kris off that Rudy was _avoiding_ him so blatantly.

"M-maybe he has a lot of things to think about, and just needs some space," Jave said, obviously trying to mollify Kris' worsening irritation.

"Maybe he died in a ditch somewhere. See if I care," Kris muttered darkly as he glared at the offending soda can in his hand.

Jave made an _–eep-_ sound and quickly moved to hide behind Spike who stared at Kris expressionlessly. He reached his hand and patted Kris' head softly before digging in his dinner.

Dellons muttered lowly, something about Rudy being a cheat that ran away from Kris' terrible cooking that instantly earned him a sharp glare from Kris. "What was that?" He loomed over him threateningly.

"Nothing! Wow, dinner today is superb!" Dellons smiled heartily as he quickly filled his mouth with curry rice.

"That was rude Dellons. Kris worked hard on dinner today," Rachel scolded the blond before she turned to Kris with a smile, seeming to try to mollify Kris' anger. "It's delicious, Kris. Thank you for the food."

Kris huffed, actually mollified. He did feel bad for taking his anger on his friends via awful cooking. He already forgave them even before he went to the orphanage with Rudy, so he decided to normalize the food now, to show them that they were forgiven. But Dellons would always be Dellons. He just couldn't help himself sometimes.

"Well, we've got to admit that it was strange for Rudy's standard of oddity," Eileen chuckled wryly after Kris was back on his seat, which involuntarily flared Kris frustration again about the matter.

"Did something happen when you guys were at the orphanage?" Rachel asked, sounding and looking curious.

"Nothing that I could think of. He was fine at the orphanage," Kris grumbled as he gave up on crushing the soda can and opted to open it to drink the content. Being mad was exhausting.

"Midlife crisis?" Dellons quipped unhelpfully and instantly earned him collective withering glare from the others.

"He's 20. There's nothing _midlife_ about him," Jave scoffed at the blond and he just shrugged.

"Sexuality crisis then."

"Shut up, Dellons. You just make everything more problematic," Spike cut before Dellons could annoy Kris further.

"Has he talked to you about it?" Kris addressed Dellons then, to everyone else's surprise.

"Why do you think I know about that?" Dellons raised his eyebrows, also looking startled with the sudden in-depth question.

"Because you're one of his best friends? I figured if he didn't want to talk to me, he would go to you."

Kris started to eat as well after that, while his friends speculated on Rudy's weird behavior. Dellons claimed that he knew nothing of Rudy's sudden weirdness.

"You want me to talk to him?" Dellons offered.

Kris was silent for a moment, feeling rather suspicious of Dellons' motive, but didn't exactly express it verbally. "You will do that for me?" He opted to ask, gazing at Dellons rather hopefully with half smile.

Dellons widened his eyes, looking astounded, as if he didn't expect Kris to indulge his offer. "Of course I will. There's nothing I won't do for you." Dellons smiled, never wasting a chance to flirt with Kris, as always.

Jave made a barfing sound, Spike rolled his eyes. Rachel and Eileen grumbled at Dellon's corniness exasperatedly. But surprisingly, Kris ended up chuckling instead of getting upset. It surprised even himself that he tried to disguise his reaction with a cough, but judging from the others' gaping faces, he did it poorly.

Kris usually thought that Dellons' flirty nature was infuriating, but for some reason, it felt funny now. He didn't know why he felt that way though.

"Kris, are you alright?" Jave looked concerned.

"I'm fine." Kris fixed his expression to his default indifference. "It was just the stress. It made me see something _funny_ when I heard Dellons' flirting," he cleared his throat as he hazarded the cause of his unusual reaction.

"Yeah, Rudy being so weird stresses us too," Jave agreed wholeheartedly.

"Just give him some time. He'll come around and then tell us what's wrong with him even if we don't ask him like always." Rachel suggested.

Kris still felt a bit dubious, but then he couldn't do anything if Rudy didn't want to talk anyway, so he just reluctantly shrugged and everyone agreed to give Rudy some space for some time.

* * *

**~ A Seven Knights Fan Fiction ~**

* * *

'Some time' turned into a week and into two and still there was no sign of Rudy wanting to talk and it drove anyone, especially Kris crazy. He was crazy enough to actually ask Dellons to really talk to Rudy. However, even when Dellons asked Rudy directly what was going on, the guy only said that there was nothing wrong, but with a smile that didn't reach his eyes and bags under his eyes as dark as shadow, like he hadn't taken a wink of sleep in weeks.

"There's definitely something wrong with him," Dellons said, pretty worried even though he pretended that he didn't care as much as he did on the outside.

"We already established that fact weeks ago, Dellons," Kris deadpanned at him as they were eating together.

It had to have been a sight actually, looking at just the two of them being friendly with each other in Kris' usual spot under the tree, without Rudy bridging their interaction. It was like Kris was actually getting used to being with Dellons and seemed more amused when Dellons were flirting with him, instead of being annoyed or irritated like he used to. Well, Kris still dealt with it mostly with sarcasm though, yet there was no longer harsh bite to it.

"Of course, but you look less worried about it, despite being rather desperate to talk to him." Dellons raised his eyebrows, still mulling over the possibility of Kris warming up to him in Rudy's absence.

"It _is_ common decency to feel worried about your friends and want to help them when they are in some kind of trouble, right? Haven't you seen his face lately? He's even worse than you when you were dealing with the drug rats," Kris pointed and Dellons almost burst out his drink, but he could save face by pretending to choke, and started to cough madly instead.

_H-how the hell did he know about that?! Did Rudy blab to Kris about that ordeal?!_

"I have no – _cough_ – idea of what you're – _cough_ – talking about," Dellons wheezed with red face, still coughing here and there between his words.

Kris gave him a rueful glare, as if asking ' _Are you serious?_ '

"Anyway, if Rudy doesn't want any help, there's nothing we can do about it. Fretting about it too much won't change that. Besides, it's usually Rudy's job as the mother-hen. I can't be like that too or we will drive each other crazy a long time ago," Kris huffed a few seconds later rather demurely, apparently willing to look the other way about Dellons' incident with the drug lords a few months back in order to stay focused on the current problem.

"Kris…" Dellons felt a slight compassion, since he thought the exact same way about Rudy.

"I'm done eating. I'm going to be at the library," Kris finished the last bite of his lunch, which was meat-bun this time, before he stood up and left. "See you at home."

"See ya," Dellons gave him a soft smile, but Kris already turned his back, so he didn't see it.

* * *

**~ A Seven Knights Fan Fiction ~**

* * *

Kris came home to Dellons playing the communal computer in the living room.

"Welcome back, Princess" Dellons greeted, not bothering to turn around from the monitor, as if he had eyes on his back or had a Kris' radar or something equally freaky for guessing right every time Kris was in his vicinity.

Kris rolled his eyes and didn't greet him back even though it was rude.

Dellons seemed to wait for him to say something before he realized that Kris still didn't want to talk to him and sighed. "Are you being silent again on purpose? I thought you already forgave me for invading your privacy weeks ago, what with your cooking being delicious again." He closed the window he was on before swiveling the chair around so he could be face to face with him.

Kris just stared at him and raised one of his eyebrows, keeping his silence. Dellons sighed again after a few minutes of staring contest. "Alright, I give up. You win. I am _sorry_ , okay? See, I sincerely apologize. I guess I was wrong and it will never happen again. You have as much freedom as the next guy to make friends with other people. It's just… please understand. You're an important person and your father…"

The blond paused as Kris' other eyebrow went up as well, silently daring him to continue to _that direction_ , but Dellons seemed to catch up with it and chuckled ruefully. "Well, you're important to us," he changed his train of thought swiftly and it was a wise decision because Kris would be angrier if Dellons brought Kris' family background into this conversation.

Kris already knew how his family, especially his father's influence made people think; that they could get a fraction of that influence and benefit if they were at least close with Kris. They could take advantage of him and they thought Kris so naïve that he couldn't read their ulterior motive. Well, Kris was often alone for a reason, Dellons should have known that since he was one of a few that was bestowed by Kris' hidden gentleness.

"You're important to _me_ , especially," Dellons continued and Kris chose to sit down on the sofa to mask his surprise at the sudden grave tone, not releasing his gaze from the blond man. Dellons seemed to be unnerved with his gaze though and then stood up to walk over to him. "When are you going to understand how I feel about you?" He continued slowly as he stood right in front of Kris, looking down at him instead of _on_ him and Kris couldn't see any teasing or leering in his expression then.

Kris shifted his gaze to Dellons' side. Well, it seemed that Dellons hadn't been joking right now. He looked serious this time and Kris had to make up his mind to answer it seriously as well. String someone's feeling without any intention of returning it would be cruel. Though, the violent way Kris reacted in past whenever Dellons came onto him should have warned Dellons of the answer to his feelings. Dellons just refused to see the reality and kept at it while disregarding Kris' rebuff every time.

Kris had thought before that Dellons had always been flirting because that was how he was. He flirted with Rudy too and with the others as well even though the way he flirted was different from one to another. Though, now that Kris thought about it carefully, Kris was the only one bestowed by the nickname 'princess'.

Maybe… _maybe_ this world Dellons' feeling for this world Kris was genuine, maybe…

"You…" Kris shifted his eyes back to look at him, but before Kris could continue, he noticed the shaky shoulders. At first he thought Dellons had been nervous, but then he looked upward slightly at Dellons' face to note that his eyebrows were twitching and the corners of his mouth trembling badly enough like had been holding back from massive amusement.

Kris' left eye twitched as well as a vein popped up on his temple. The nerve of that _brat_! Fine. Two people could play this game. He'd make Dellons pay for teasing and making fun of Kris like that.

Kris reached out his hand to grab at Dellons collar before pulling the blond down. Dellons yelped in surprise as he lost his balance and ended up toppling on top of Kris, with both of his hands beside Kris' head on the backrest of the sofa to hold his weight and one of his knees between Kris' thighs, his face ended up so close to Kris that Kris could note the way those sky-blue eyes widening in shock.

"Uh…" Dellons seemed to lose his voice, dumbfounded, as he finally noticed how compromising their position was.

"Is this what you want?" Kris asked, lowering his tone and softening his gaze.

"Um," Dellons swallowed audibly, his expression looking so stunned that Kris actually _laugh_ inwardly that he finally could reduce Dellons' extensive vocabulary to single syllable.

Kris smirked inwardly, opening his hand that was clenched on Dellons collar and slowly splayed his palm over Dellons' heart, feeling the way Dellons' heartbeat increased by seconds until it was drumming hard before Kris pulled it back to rest limply on his thigh.

Dellon chuckled slightly (nervously if Kris paid attention to it closely), pushing his body back slightly to look at Kris in the eye more clearly. There was a split second where Dellons looked conflicted, but then he seemed to decide something when he smirked.

Dellons supported himself with only his knees while his hands moved to both Kris' wrists, pulled them up, before pushed them down gently yet tightly. "Why, Princess… you've been very peculiar these days," then he purred seductively, his low tenor voice tickling Kris' ear as he leaned into him and nuzzled the side of his head.

Kris kept still as he tested the boundary of his wrists, gripped by Dellons on each side of his head on top of the sofa backrest as one of the blonde's knees was nestled between his legs and his warm body was so close, bordering touching on top of him.

Kris' entire body was suddenly tense in fight and flight response despite his dare earlier, getting ready to knee the guy on his royal jewel if he needed to, but Kris had grown tired of this escapade, and he needed to teach the brat a lesson anyway (since the original Kris was older than this Dellons), so he forced his body to relax and then nuzzled Dellons' nape in retaliation.

"And how _peculiar_ do you mean, Dellons?" Kris whispered back, lowering his tone as well and he smirked inwardly as he felt Dellons' body shiver in reaction.

"Oh, I don't know… you seem to be more receptive of my advance lately," Dellons closed his eyes and rested his lips on Kris' neck. "Are you giving up on Rudy?"

Kris was slightly surprised with the accusation, and he felt Dellons grip tightened on his wrists. His voice sounded strange too. There was a tremble in it. It was as if…

_As if…_

But before Kris could think further, there was a sudden pained yowl and Dellons body was thrown aside until he fell down violently on the floor.

"You bastard! What do you think you're doing to Kris?!"

Kris was so startled by the fury and anger that was shouted from that baritone voice. He looked upward to see Rudy, eyes blazing like raging fiery amber and his fists were clenched with ferocious tenseness, part of his right knuckles were bloody, and Kris was even more shocked as he realized that Dellons was still crouching on the floor, covering his damaged left cheek and bloody mouth with one hand while cursing obscenities belligerently as well.

Kris actually gaped like a fish out of water at the sudden violent scene and he honestly didn't know what to do before suddenly Rudy snapped, like he was just released from a trance, jolting up while staring at Kris and then at the still couching-cursing Dellons with horror on his pale face.

"Oh my God! Oh my God, Dellons!" Rudy immediately knelt beside the pained man on the floor and touched his shoulder in a panic. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to! Oh, my God! Let me see your face!"

"Ouch, ouch, OUCH!" Dellons protested exaggeratedly as Rudy manhandled him to sit down and gripped his wrist to pull the hand away from his cheek and mouth. "What the Fuck, Rudy! What was that for?!" he growled angrily, looking pissed off and bewildered at the same time.

"Sorry! I'm sorry!" Rudy rummaged his breast pocket for a handkerchief to clean the blood away from Dellons' split lips.

"Ouch! Don't touch it! You bastard! That's painful!"

"I know. I'm sorry! But-" Rudy looked like he was about to cry himself, so Kris snapped out of his own shock and decided to help.

"I'll get a first aid kit and an ice pack," he said before he moved away to just do that.

**~ # ~**

"I'm sorry…" Rudy said, having a difficult time to blink his tears back as he treated Dellons' split lips while the blond was holding an ice-pack on his starting-to-bruise cheek. "I don't know what I was thinking. I really didn't mean to hit you…"

Dellons was silent, wincing one or twice as Rudy's ministration hit a tender spot. It looked like it was painful after all. Kris was dutifully handing medical needle and string to Rudy as the split lips apparently needed some stitches. The tear on Dellons' lower lip was quite bad. Rudy didn't realize that he had hit Dellons very hard earlier. But looking at the damage, he didn't pull his punch at all.

After the wound was stitched and dressed and the three of them sat on the sofa beside each other with Dellons on his left side and Kris on his right, Rudy sighed deeply, feeling very guilty and yet angry at the same time. He was so angry with himself right now.

"So… why did you hit me again?" Dellons asked slowly, still keeping the ice pack on his bruised cheek, while glancing at Rudy warily.

Rudy flinched. He was quiet for a moment, trying to look into himself, what made him do what he did, and he still didn't know any rational reason to justify his bizarre action at all. "I… when I saw you on top of Kris earlier, I… I felt this irrational anger and fear. I don't really understand it, but… I don't want you to touch Kris _like that_." Rudy unconsciously raised his tone at the end and it startled even himself how fierce the feeling of protectiveness in his heart.

_Protective? No. It's… it's different from how I usually feel. This is more…_

"Like what?" Kris asked now, raising an eyebrow and looking at Rudy seriously, as if daring to explain further, surprising him and bringing him back from his train of thought.

"Like… intimately," Rudy couldn't help flushing. He knew he was being a busy body. Kris was an adult. He was free if he wanted to be intimate with other people. But it was just… it looked a lot like Dellons attacking Kris and Rudy hated the thought of anyone else's hands on Kris' body…

 _Wait, what? Where the hell did that come from?!_ —Rudy could feel his face burning at the sudden realization that that fierce feeling he felt just then wasn't protectiveness, but _possessiveness_. He was returning to his middle-school self. He felt possessive of Kris to the extent that he would viciously hit even his best friend when he thought Dellons was about to touch Kris.

_I'm the worst!_

Rudy was so ashamed that he had to cover his face. He didn't want Kris to see him like this. Petty. Jealous. _Ugly_. He felt like burying himself and never came out of the hole of his slowly shredding dignity. He hated himself for feeling like this.

"I'm so sorry… I don't know why I feel like this. I… I feel the world is being turned upside down at the moment and I absolutely despise it."

"Sheesh, you're really are clueless it's absolutely hopeless!" Dellons threw the ice pack on the table and crossed his arm on his chest. "Can't you see that you're _jealous_?" he challenged.

"Dellons." Kris sent the blond a warning glare.

"No! This had gone too far even for him!" Dellons sent Kris back a sharp glare. "I refuse to play this game anymore. Rudy. Tell me now or forever hold your tongue! How do you exactly feel about Kris and me?"

" _What?_ " Kris widened his eyes at Dellons, an incredulous tone in his voice.

"Oh, I…" Rudy was bewildered now. Dellons had asked that question before, when he confessed to Rudy that his feeling for Kris was serious. Rudy hadn't known the answer then, but now… now that he _hit_ Dellons for touching Kris, he couldn't exactly lie to Dellons. He would absolutely hate the idea.

"I… I… hate it…" Rudy couldn't help looking down, his voice getting lower in volume until it was no more than tangible whisper.

"Rudy…!" Kris stared at Rudy, his eyes looking vulnerable.

"So, which would you hate more, me being with Kris, or Kris with people other than me?" Dellons asked again, narrowing his eyes.

"Dellons! What on earth?!" Kris's incredulous tone was back, complete with an affronted expression.

"Don't be ridiculous, I'd hate both," Rudy responded automatically and he widened his eyes in surprise when he realized what he just said.

Kris shut his mouth and stared at Rudy in shock and Dellons smirked suspiciously.

"You don't hate it when I am with other people," Dellons stated and Rudy shook his head slowly, gradually realizing what was going on, while confirming his best friend's meaningful statement. "Then, there's only one conclusion, right, Rudy. You are _not_ that stupid." He raised one of his eyebrows, still looking gallant and sophisticated despite the slight swell on his cheek.

"I… Dellons, I'm so sorry… I… I can't be happy if you're with Kris, because I… I _love_ Kris… more than a friend…"

Rudy finally realized how he felt. His feeling for Kris… why he was so protective of him, so _possessive_ at times, wanting him to always smile at him, wanting Kris to be content and happy… always… always… since they were little… more than anything and anyone, it was because Rudy loved Kris.

_I love him… so very much._

**End of Round 9**

**Tbc…**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know what to say. It didn't go the way I wanted to at first. I didn't know what happened. It felt excruciating on some parts. It's hard making Rudy's reaction because he's so… so damn oblivious! Ahem, anyway this is the turning point I was talking about in the previous round. So… thoughts?
> 
>   **Teaser:**
> 
> "It's not like you at all," Kris said tentatively and Dellons gave him a smirk.
> 
> "What aren't you satisfied with now, Princess? Haven't you gotten the Prince's heart?" His tone was teasing and mocking, and his smirk was rather annoying, but the gleam in his eyes told another story.
> 
> "Rudy said you were serious about me." Kris stated.
> 
> "Well, it wasn't a lie," Dellons shrugged.
> 
> "Yet you don't seem about to give up despite our current status." Kris looked at him straightly in the eyes and Dellons' baby blue eyed shone with gravity.
> 
> "Haven't I told you? You're my one and only princess," Dellons said, reaching out his hand to touch Kris' cheek. "But I haven't told you this one yet. You might have been my princess, but Rudy… he's my prince."


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, you awesome Knights! Another round for this story just for you! I hope you're still with me. We're closer to the end, by the way… just a little bit more and we're done! So here is it. Round 10… FIGHT!
> 
> **Disclaimer and Warning: _See prologue…_**
> 
> Additional Warning: there's a bit of a lime scene in this chapter, but it hasn't crossed into M-rated territory... I think, if that's not your thing, just... read it in fast-pace and ignore what happens there ^^;

 

* * *

**A Gift from A Far Away World—a Seven Knights Fan Fiction**

**© lunaryu~**

**Round 10:** _**Connection** _

* * *

_**Home, Living Room—** _

Kris was… stumped.

_Well,_ that would be an understatement of the year. _Bewildered_ was more like it, along with _shocked_ and _astonished_ , or the combination and permutation for those synonyms, with the level of surreal quality added to them.

He _was_ that surprised.

" _I… I can't be happy_ _if you're with Kris, because I… I_ _love_ _Kris… more than a friend…"_

Rudy just confessed, albeit it was more to answer Dellons' _demand_ instead of to Kris directly, but Kris was _there_ with them. He was sitting duck beside Rudy, probably still gaping after Rudy's heartfelt love confession.

Rudy's expression when he said those words was _difficult_ , like he was helpless and felt _guilty_ , as if he had disappointed _a lot of people_ , like he was _hurting_ , with brows furrowed and lower lip bitten, part of his palm covering the left side of his face, body crouched with supporting elbow on his thigh

"Rudy…" Kris couldn't help calling his name, raising his hand slightly to touch Rudy somewhere, _anywhere_ , just to make sure that he wasn't actually dreaming or hallucinating.

Rudy flinched when Kris' hand made contact with his shoulder, and like a shock of electricity, Rudy seemed to remember that Kris was there as well, thus snapped his head upward to look at him, his face suddenly drained of color.

"Oh." Rudy seemed about to bolt, so Kris gripped his shoulder harder to stop him from running away. There was no way he would let him run this time. _Not again._

"Don't." Kris looked at Rudy in the eye and Rudy's body instantly tensed in fight or flight response. "I am not angry, Rudy, so don't run away from me."

Kris was slightly embarrassed of how pleading he sounded. He didn't know what kind of expression he was making, but seeing it seemed to stifle Rudy's instinct to run. Besides, Kris never loosened his grip on his shoulder, so gradually, Rudy's frigid body began to lax, unwinding.

"Kris, I…" Rudy still looked very apprehensive when he started, seeming about to explain himself, but Kris raised his other hand, two fingers placed at Rudy's lips to stop him from saying further. Kris didn't feel like hearing any explanation since he himself was still reeling from the event.

Kris had thought once that his feeling for Rudy was one-sided at best. He only waited for Rudy to notice and then expected that Rudy would let Kris down easy, like the gentleman he was. Kris had never thought that his feeling _could_ be returned.

This posed another problem for Kris.

Oh, Kris was happy. He was mightily thrilled at the idea of being together with Rudy in a romantic relationship, the prospect of dating him with all the benefits as lovers, the pleasure of body and the satisfaction and contentment of mind and feelings; Kris was all for that.

It was just… the matter of _consent_.

Kris was Kris, yes, but _he_ wasn't _this world Kris_. This Rudy was _not_ Kris' Rudy. The one this Rudy _loved_ wasn't actually him, it was the other Kris, and the one Kris had fallen in love with, technically, wasn't this Rudy either.

_What should I do?_ —Kris thought frantically, trying his hardest to solve this problem in his head without alerting anyone in the room with him.

Kris couldn't dodge this problem. He _had to_ answer Rudy's feeling. He couldn't postpone his answer because Dellons was there and he _knew_ how Kris felt about Rudy. If Kris shied away here, Dellons would definitely notice that there was something wrong with Kris.

Kris surreptitiously glanced at Dellons that sat watching him and Rudy with gleaming baby blue eyes, his expression neutral, bordering expressionless. Kris didn't know what Dellons was thinking by forcing Rudy to admit how he felt toward Kris. What did he gain from this?

"Dellons," Kris called and Rudy jumped, like he just recalled that Dellons was still there with them, but Kris focused his eyes on the blond and kept Rudy in place with both his grip on Rudy's shoulder and fingers on his mouth. "Can you please give us a moment? I need to talk to Rudy _alone_."

Anyway, Kris could start by getting Dellons eyes off of them while he did damage control. At least this way he could dodge the inevitable of getting interrogated if he ended up telling Rudy _the truth_. Kris owed the brunet that much if they wanted to do something about their feelings.

Dellons huffed. "Alright, I'll give up for today." He stood up and turned away. "Don't expect me to be this nice another time, Princess." He said rather loudly as he saluted while walking away, leaving both Kris and Rudy alone.

…

_What? For 'today'? What is he exactly planning to do next time?_ —Kris couldn't help feeling that Dellons would be insufferable after this.

"Um, Kris?"

Rudy's muffled voice snapped Kris back from his train of thought to blink and looked back at Rudy whose lips were still on the pads of his index and middle fingers. Kris' felt a tingling sensation from his fingers that instantly heated his face slightly at the feel of those soft lips on his skin. It was like, Rudy was kissing the pads of his fingers, and Kris couldn't help flushing in embarrassment as he pulled both his hands back.

"Sorry." Kris looked down at his own lap, resting his hands on it, still feeling his overly warm cheeks, his fluttering heart and his tingling fingers.

"No, I- I should be saying that," Rudy stuttered, his cheeks flushing as well. "I am sorry for suddenly dropping something like this on you. I… I should have been more gracious in telling you how I feel…"

Kris felt the corners of his mouth twitching up slightly at that. "Gracious? You mean _tactful_ , right?" He couldn't help teasing him slightly, because hearing Rudy mentioning gracious and himself in one sentence was funny for some reason.

Rudy seemed to agree with him as he chuckled slightly. "Yes, that's what I mean exactly."

They were silent after that. It wasn't awkward, but Kris still needed time to think about how to proceed from this point. Despite all the problems that could emerge from accepting and returning Rudy's feeling, Kris absolutely didn't want to let him down. He felt the same about Rudy, but how would he explain that the one Rudy had fallen for wasn't exactly him? Would it be a lie if he didn't warn Rudy about who Kris really was? Would it betray his consent if Kris kept Rudy in the dark about the swap between him and the other Kris?

Kris' body right now was the other Kris', he had all the other Kris' memories, their history together since they were children, but it didn't change the fact that this body mind was a being from another reality, with another set of memories and history in another universe, with _another_ Rudy that this Rudy wasn't aware of. Could this Rudy accept that? Would Kris betray his own feeling for his Rudy if he started a relationship with this world Rudy? Because for Kris, it didn't really matter whether it was _this_ Rudy or _his_ Rudy, they were Rudy all the same.

Decision made, Kris reached Rudy's hand in both of his own and closed his eyes. "Rudy, I need you to know how happy I am with your feelings." He paused slightly and it was a mistake because Rudy seemed to draw the _wrong_ conclusion.

"But?" Rudy sounded resigned, sad and rueful.

Kris looked upward at Rudy and saw how bleak he looked and Kris didn't want to see that expression on him. "You know that I _love_ you too, right? Because I do. I am _in love_ with you." He said fiercely, gripping Rudy's hand tightly and Rudy's eyes widened in shock at that.

"W-what? But I thought…!"

"You _are_ so dense it's frustratingly infuriating," Kris huffed, fondly exasperated, but he didn't let go of his hand. "How long do you think I've waited for you to notice?"

"Uh…" Rudy looked positively flustered, _confused_.

"Years, Rudy. _Years_." Kris pulled Rudy's hand and put his palm on his heart. "Can you feel that?" Kris' heart beat hard and fast under Rudy's twitching palm. "Would you believe me that my heartbeat calls your name each time?"

Rudy's cheeks looked redder if it was possible. "Kris…" He couldn't seem to be able to stop himself even if he wanted to. Rudy's other hand reached for Kris and then he was pulled into Rudy's chest in one armed hug. Rudy's left hand was still pinned together with Kris' own between both their chests and Rudy nuzzled Kris' left ear, his right hand on Kris back before it moved upward on the back of his head, holding him tightly. "Kris…!"

Rudy's voice calling his name sounded desperate, and Kris closed his eyes, nuzzling him back tenderly. "Silly Rudy… Every time you call my name, hug me and kiss me, how do you think I feel all along?" He whispered softly, his voice trembling slightly.

"I love you…! I love you, Kris…!" Rudy tightened his hold on Kris' body, whispering back into his ear repeatedly between little kisses to his earlobe and the side of his head, as if he were trying to make up for how many times he had missed Kris' inner shout of love toward him, like he couldn't get enough of saying it out loud.

"I love you…"

**~ # ~**

They were still holding each other in the living room, but their position was laid down side by side this time on the sofa, facing each other. It was unfortunate that they had quite a big of a sofa, or else it would be uncomfortable since both of them possessed quite large of statures, with over 6 inches tall each.

Kris' head was rested on Rudy's right shoulder, his right hand held by Rudy's left on Rudy's chest, the other one looping under Rudy's back. Rudy's right hand looped bellow Kris around his waist. They were comfortable holding each other like that.

"Kris," Rudy called softly.

"Hmm?" Kris' eyes were still closed. He sounded content and sleepy, which was very adorable in Rudy's eyes.

"Does this mean we're dating now?" Rudy couldn't help asking. He had no experience in this. His feeling was still overwhelming, this bubbly happiness that he was special for Kris, that Kris reciprocated his feelings, that Kris loved him _like that_. He didn't know how to react properly. He wanted to always hold Kris like this, since this seemed to be more than enough to make him content, but Rudy also wanted to do something _more_ about it. He owed Kris that much, and he wanted to make Kris happy. Yet he still didn't know how to do that without making a fool of himself.

"I'd like that, yes," Kris answered, his fingers played with Rudy's on his chest. "But… even if we aren't dating, this is enough for me."

"Really? You don't want to put a label on our relationship? Making it official? You know… go on a date and stuff?" Rudy asked, furrowing slightly. He tried to look at Kris' face, but it was hard from his position.

Kris was quiet for a moment before he stilled his fingers and grasped Rudy's gently. "Before we go any further than this, I need you to know something."

Kris sounded grave and somber and it raised Rudy's worry so suddenly. Rudy didn't know what Kris wanted to say, but he got a _ping_ of instinct that told him it was very important and needed his undivided attention.

"What is it?" Rudy asked then, warily.

Kris moved his body position, pulled his hand back from Rudy's hand and put them beside Rudy's head as a support while draping part of his body on top of Rudy to face Rudy directly. Kris' intense ruby eyes searched Rudy's for a moment before he nodded determinedly, seeming to convince himself that he _needed_ to say it.

"Rudy… are you aware of the existence of multiverse?"

"Huh?"

**~ # ~**

When Kris started to talk _science_ , he perfectly knew that it always ended hurting Rudy's head slightly. Kris never minced his jargon and most of the time, Rudy only got half of them. But this time, this time Kris toned them down, changing all the scientific ones into layman terms and by the end of his explanation, made sure Rudy understood by making him repeat the points.

"You are Kris from another universe," Rudy said, his expression blank. "You swapped bodies with this universe Kris and haven't found a way to swap back to your original body."

"That's the gist of it." Kris nodded, feeling anxious even though he didn't show it. He hoped that Rudy wouldn't freak out.

"You're not… my Kris?" Rudy asked, his voice trembling and extremely soft in volume, and Kris was afraid of this. Kris didn't want Rudy to consider him _a stranger_ that took over _his Kris'_ body.

"Yes, but not exactly right either. This body… this body is your Kris'," Kris was urgently trying to calm his panicky at Rudy's leaning-toward-negative response. "Kris… I mean ' _I'_ love you, the same way this world Kris does." It didn't seem to lessen the dubious look on Rudy's expression. "I am sure of that because _he_ is me. I _am_ Kris, even though we're from different universes. I have his memories. I _know_ him. I know how much he loves you and I feel the same."

Kris closed his eyes, feeling slightly helpless. He knew he sounded crazy, but he didn't know how to explain better to convince Rudy that he and this world Kris were the same, at least feeling wise.

"Is there a _Rudy_ in your universe?" the brunet asked, still quietly.

Kris smiled slightly at that. "There is."

"Then… the one you really love must be _that Rudy_ ," Rudy mumbled, glancing the other way.

"I do love him, the same way I love you, because _you_ are Rudy," Kris opened his eyes once again, looking at Rudy's face with full conviction. "You _are_ Rudy." He repeated and Rudy looked back into Kris' eyes somberly, intensely and there was a sliver of recognition in his eyes, like a switch, and he gasped lightly.

"The armor…" Rudy enlarged his eyes. "Oh. That feeling of recognition… You… I do know you, I… that _Dejavu_ ," he exhaled a shaky breath and searched Kris' probably astonished face. "Yes," Rudy _did_ seem to recognize _him_ when a gentle, fond smile bloomed on his face.

Then, Rudy lifted his head up slightly into Kris's face. "Kris…"

Kris didn't have time to anticipate what was happening as Rudy lowered his eyelids before kissing his lips lightly.

Kris gasped in surprise at the feel of Rudy's soft lips on his, of Rudy's hands —his left one sneaked and looped around his body onto his back, while his right one went to the back of his head, fingers tangling between strands of his hair—, putting pressure on them, as if he was making sure that Kris wouldn't pull back from his kiss and embrace.

"Nn…" Kris couldn't help closing his eyes and moaning into their kiss. All the fluttering feeling in his chest and stomach, Rudy's body heat, his _touch_ and the feel of Rudy's slick tongue as the tip caressed Kris' lower lip made Kris' body shudder pleasantly.

Rudy kept kissing Kris, licking the corner of his mouth and lips until Kris gave him access into his oral cavity. A low groan escaped from the back of his throat as Rudy's tongue slipped inside his mouth, shyly at first, but then became bolder, more exploring, as soon as another pleasant moan was heard in between kisses.

"Nnh… w-wait, Rudy," Kris tried to pull back despite how good it was kissing the brunet, but every time he was able to release the kiss, Rudy's lips chased after his in a second.

"No," _kiss_ "No more waiting," _another kiss_.

Kris had a hard time concentrating. They were still in the middle of conversation. He didn't understand why Rudy suddenly barraged him with kisses, _deep kisses_ even. It was like a switch had been turned on and Rudy was—

Kris's thought was cut off and he moaned again when he felt Rudy's hand stroking his back, slowly up and down, and then to his sensitive side before it glided up once again from the top, traveling and feeling the column of his spine gently, intimately, moving to his lower back, down to cup one of his butt cheeks.

"Ah! Wait, Rudy!" Kris made his best effort to pull back and cried out, before they could go further than that.

Rudy blinked owlishly as Kris got up and pulled away from him, to the other end of the sofa, trying to wipe some of their mixed saliva that escaped the corner of his mouth. He felt the way his body become feverish, bothered, _excited_ , and was sure that his face was as red as a tomato then. It felt too hot and too fast, and as eager as he was to continue their tryst, they still needed to talk first.

Rudy was silent for a beat before- "What just happened?"

Kris narrowed his gaze at the _puzzled_ tone. "Your hands are too fast. That's what happened." He… _they_ needed to calm down a bit. His body reaction to Rudy's touches was too distracting.

"I…" Rudy slowly got up to sit and then stared at Kris' probably rather disheveled appearance and instantly blushed like all his capillaries opened up at the same time. "Oh, Oh my God! Kris, I- I'm so sorry! I- I- I don't know what I was-… that wasn't…! Aaaaah!"

Then Rudy buried his crimson face in both of his palms again, even his ears turned red and Kris almost saw steam coming out of them.

Kris bit his lower lip lightly, squirming uncomfortably at the little problem that had risen up from their little play earlier. "At least we should move to somewhere more private if we want to continue."

Kris meant their conversation, but from the way Rudy screamed in embarrassment into his own hands after a second of pause told Kris that Rudy caught up with the innuendo.

**~ # ~**

They moved to Rudy's room to 'continue' the conversation.

Well, Rudy assumed what Kris wanted was the conversation even though he didn't seem to oppose continuing their… _physical conversation_ as well. Rudy was still blushing profusely as he remembered Kris' look after he kissed and touched him. How tousled his clothes and hair were… how pink his cheeks were, how red and bitten his lips… _those kissable plump lips…_

Rudy shook his head hard, trying to banish the impure thought. He needed to get a grip of himself no matter how _hot_ and Kris looked at the moment. Well, at least his expression wasn't as _vulgar_ as before. Kris had calmed a bit then. Rudy had to suck a deep breath before releasing it slowly. Breathing maneuver should compose his heart and body slightly.

They were sat side by side on Rudy's bed. Both were reluctant to be the first to dispel the silence, but they were here for conversation, so…

It kind of surprised Rudy when Kris was the one to start it. "So… earlier, you talked about 'armor' and 'recognition' before you kissed me. What was that?"

Rudy glanced at Kris and the platinum blonde's eyes were on him with hint of curiosity in his expression. Rudy moved his glance down, thinking. Honestly? He didn't know how to answer that. It was… rather silly, actually.

"Kris… do you know why I'm such a dork for adventure and fantasy books?" Rudy asked, trying to start the story from the very beginning.

Kris gave him a puzzled look. "Because it's your preference?" He guessed.

Rudy smiled. "Well, yeah, that too, but… it's not actually that simple." He lifted his face and turned to Kris once again. It was the time to tell Kris this, even though he had been too embarrassed to do it before, all this time. "It started when I was still in elementary school, Kris, precisely the day after our first meeting."

Kris gave Rudy his undivided attention as Rudy retold his story with faraway look in his face.

"Since the day I met you, I have had… _these dreams_. They are about a world so unlike here, it can't possibly ours, and yet… we live there. You and I… and some of our friends, Rachel, Eileen, Spike, Jave, Dellons… all the children at the orphanage, even the Four Lords. Can you believe it? Even before I met them in this reality when I was awake, I'd been seeing them in my dreams. The people living in my dreams world are not strictly humans like Kings, Queens, Knights, Princes, and Princesses; there are elves, any kind of monsters, dragons, a goddess who's the spitting image of Mother Elena." Rudy chuckled, feeling funny that he made his surrogate mother a goddess in his dream.

"There are magic of all kinds, even zombies and reapers. It's a world full of wonder, so fascinating and alluring which I won't mind never waking up from." Rudy paused slightly to take a breath. "I dream about us living in that world… our ages are older though. We are both knights and wear armors. We have wings sometimes. We guard our kingdom together." He grinned, feeling happy recalling the bits and pieces of the dream that he remembered.

_So that's why I felt I'd seen Kris with armor when we were at the costume party. It's from these dreams._

It wasn't always wholesome, though. Rudy didn't always remember if he had the dream each night. "But, even though it's a world of adventure and fantasy that I love, the dreams aren't always a happy one. At times, I woke up sweating like I had had nightmares. I don't always remember the dreams when something bad happened in them, but the feeling of dread and helplessness remained with me throughout my waking hours." Rudy blinked and turned to face Kris to ask, "Do you remember, when I had off days?"

Kris nodded, seeming to recall those days.

"Those were days when I had those not so pleasant dreams about that world," Rudy explained, averting his gaze from Kris again. "Those dreams became very intense when we were in high school. I dreamt almost every night. The detail was always fuzzy when I was awake, though… but I remembered one that scared me the most. It was… the day I lost you to the darkness."

Rudy heard Kris' gasp lightly. "It was so awful… so painful that I was sick the next morning when I was awake. It felt so real that I wanted to cry. It's crazy, I know. It was just a dream, but it didn't feel like one. It felt like my heart had been ripped apart. I kept feeling sick until I saw you when you visited me after school. I kept you in my room until I fell asleep again, right?" Rudy smiled sheepishly and apologetically at Kris, remembering how needy he was at that time and how Kris relented to stay albeit grumbling about Rudy being ridiculous.

Kris' expression was _odd,_ though. His eyes were wide and there was a tinge of wonder in them, like he made a connection about something weird that happened in the past with Rudy's explanation now.

"Rudy… that world… is not just a dream," Kris said slowly, wondrously. "You dreamt about _that world_ , the world where I came from."

Rudy gave Kris a slow, poignant smile. "Yes, I thought so." He reached his hand to Kris' cheek. "You are Kris, the one from my dream world…" He touched Kris' cheek again gently and Kris leaned on his touch willingly. "Do you think… my Kris is also aware of your existence?"

Rudy hoped so. He hoped so hard that his Kris also dreamt about that world as this Kris, that even though they swapped souls, they were still the same.

"I think so. If not… he wouldn't be in _that world_ now," Kris answered, nuzzling Rudy's palm and kissed it softly. Rudy felt the warmth of Kris' lips and blushed again.

No wonder Kris was very popular. He looked very enticing like this. He wanted to kiss his lips again. "May I?" Rudy brought Kris face closer to his and insinuated with his eyes that he very much wanted that kiss.

Kris' cheeks reddened again, but he only looked down for a moment, eyes on Rudy's lips before they were on Rudy's eyes once again, and nodded shyly. Rudy smiled and closed their distance once again in a tender kiss.

Kris' lips were so warm, soft and yielding, so lovely to nibble, and those little whimpering noises he made caused Rudy's body to heat in a delicious way, a gentle glow that was like a candle.

But when Rudy deepened the kiss, when his tongue yearned to taste inside Kris' mouth once again, the candle caught fire in his heart, lighting it like a raging fervor that urged his body to follow his overflowing feeling, his hands to join in an act of passion. His right hand that was on his cheek mapped down, touching and feeling Kris' neck, fingers gliding to feel his mandible and the pulse of his carotid artery, down to Kris' collarbone, and caught on the first button of his shirt. Rudy's left hand closed in on Kris' hip, clenching firmly but not hard enough to bruise, before it loosened and started to move upward, fingers slowly sneaking inside the hem of Kris' shirt, touching his bare skin.

Kris groaned as he seemed to feel his ardent touch, both of his hands were on Rudy's collar, holding tightly like his life depended on it. Rudy's kiss didn't slow down despite the burning feeling in his chest which was probably because of the lack of oxygen, because he wanted more, more of that addictive relish inside Kris' mouth. He tasted sweet, with a tang of cinnamon and vanilla, mixed with a unique flavor that Rudy couldn't identify but dubbed it as Kris' natural flavor. It was intoxicating. He felt dizzy and he couldn't help but push Kris down on the bed.

Kris gasped, cutting their connection briefly as he took the much needed oxygen into his lungs, his breath labored and fast, and Rudy grabbed both Kris' hands, one hand in one of his own and pinned them down beside Kris' head.

"Kris," Rudy didn't realize how hoarse he sounded, how labored his own breath as he stared at Kris' dazed expression. His own expression had to be similar with how aroused he was feeling, how scrambled his thought was. He couldn't help himself as he leaned down to kiss Kris' jaw and his neck. "Kris," he mumbled his name as he kissed Kris' exposed sternum and opened his mouth slightly to give him a little bite that he soothed with a gentle lick with his tongue.

Kris groaned Rudy's name lowly and gasped again as Rudy repeated his biting ministration at his skin I another area softly, his body shivered and shuddered while Rudy could feel it with his sensitive lips and tongue. He let go of one of Kris' hand in favor of unbuttoning his shirt more, until his entire torso and abdomen were exposed, then he mapped Kris' body with his fingers and palm.

"I want you…" Rudy whispered, helplessly adorning, before he kissed Kris' lips again to drown out Kris' gasp as Rudy's forefinger caught one of Kris' nipples.

"Nnh…" Kris's free hand went to tangle in Rudy's dark hair, messing and tugging some strands lightly before it settled on gripping, holding Rudy in place to continue kissing deeply, dancing with their tongues, limbs and body connecting in a hot mess of desire.

"I _need_ you…"

Rudy didn't know who said that. It might have been him, but with the way Kris never letting go of him, it could easily be Kris.

_Please be mine…_

* * *

**~ A Seven Knights Fan Fiction~**

* * *

Kris felt his body shiver slightly as a soft chilly breeze, probably from the air con, caressed his exposed chest. He opened his eyes slowly and exhaled softly, before noticing that he couldn't really move because something rather heavy was draped over his waist.

Kris blinked at the tan arm around his waist for a moment before his face flushed as memory about his previous randy activity flooded his mind. He put the back of his hand in front of his mouth, felt his heartbeat pick up pace and face burn for a minute or two before he sighed again, noticing the ache, the satisfying kind, in parts of his body that were rarely used so strenuously.

Inconspicuously, after his heartbeat slowdown to a resemblance of normal level, Kris put his hand down from his mouth to cover Rudy's bigger one on his stomach. He felt so warm and content staying in Rudy's embrace like that. Rudy had been very gentle until the end of their intercourse, and he even did the aftercare with tender hands. Kris had a hard time believing that it was Rudy's first time with the way he did everything so perfectly.

_Well, that will be a conversation for another time_ —Kris decided. Right now he still wanted to enjoy being warm, satiated, and content.

Kris squirmed slightly, inconspicuously, to turn his body around so he could be face to face with Rudy. Managing it without waking Rudy up, Kris stared at his… _boyfriend's_?—face for a long moment. The steady inhale and exhale of his breathe, his serene expression, his long eyelashes…

_Rudy is quite pretty in a masculine way_ —Kris couldn't help thinking as he caressed Rudy's bang aside so he could look at Rudy's profile more closely. He loved Rudy's face, but more than anything, his kind and gentle personality. Although, he should do something about his oblivious nature.

But that was alright too. An oblivious Rudy was exasperating, but still adorable nonetheless. No matter what Kris would still love him, any version of him, without question. "I love you…" he whispered softly, still caressing Rudy's cheek gently.

The corner of Rudy's mouth twitched slightly and Kris held his breath as Rudy started to wake. He opened his eyes slowly and a gentle smile bloomed in his face as his amber eyes focused on Kris' red eyes. "I love you too, Kris."

Kris's face instantly heated again as he realized that Rudy was probably awake the whole time. "You're not funny," he scowled, took a smaller pillow and smacked Rudy's face with it in retaliation.

Rudy yelped at the sudden attack, but then his surprise quickly dissolved into amused laughter, probably because he witnessed how Kris blushed so hard after that.

"You are adorable, Kris!" Rudy was still laughing as Kris, while grunting "Shut up!" to his face, whacked him again in the chest, repeatedly, until he could control his embarrassment, but Rudy took the pillow away quickly before he caught Kris' wrist and pulled his body back into his embrace.

"Come now, don't be mad. You're cute and I adore you," Rudy kissed Kris' hair and held him tighter, so much that Kris had a hard time to breathe, let alone move. Kris could free himself if he wanted to, but Rudy's bare skin on his felt nice and he wanted to be there forever, so he feigned his annoyance and huffed.

They were quiet like that for a while before Rudy's stomach growled loudly. Kris blinked and looked upward at Rudy's slowly reddening face. "Sorry," the brunet said, looking quite embarrassed.

"Well, it's dinner time. Should we go out and eat dinner with the others?" Kris asked.

"Yeah, imagine how surprised the others are going to be if we tell them about us," Rudy grinned, looking happy somehow.

Kris rolled his eyes. "You'll be surprised of how surprised they won't be," he muttered as he untangled himself from Rudy's arms and the searched for his clothes which somehow had ended up under the bed.

"What?" Rudy, already find his clothes and put them on, asked, apparently hearing Kris' voice but couldn't make out his words.

"Nothing. Let's go," Kris, finished with redressing himself, offered his hand to Rudy that Rudy seemed too happy to grab.

* * *

**~ A Seven Knights Fan Fiction~**

* * *

When both Rudy and Kris arrived at the dinner table in the kitchen, Dellons watched as they, especially Rudy, stammered their apology for being late for dinner. The others didn't seem to notice at first, but then he saw as Jave blinked and widened his eyes when his gaze landed on Rudy's specific body part.

Dellons also saw it instantly when he followed Jave's line of sight. He smirked in amusement because Rudy didn't seem to notice as one by one, their friends began to see it too, starting from Spike who raised one of his eyebrows, and then Rachel who immediately stifled her reaction by covering her mouth slightly and Eileen who didn't bother to hide her surprise by gaping at Rudy. Kris seemed to notice it as well immediately and went a little pink, but didn't say anything to that.

"It's nice for you love-birds to finally join our sacred dinner," Dellons said, smiling at both Rudy and Kris, who instantly went red at his greeting.

Rudy glanced at Dellons, face still flushing, probably embarrassed, but his expression looked kind of wary and _guilty_ too for heaven sake. Dellons huffed. "What?" He asked then, because being at the receiving end of Rudy's sad puppy look got on his nerves as badly as getting a seductive look from Kris.

"Um… I'm sorry, about your wound," Rudy bit his lower lip, and looked upward at Dellons from under his long lashes with pleading look.

_Seriously, this guy!_ —Dellons sighed while Jave, as perceptive as he always was, immediately understood what had happened.

"Rudy gave you _that_?" the purple haired kid widened his eyes even more, looking shocked as he stared at Dellons' busted lower lip incredulously.

"What did you do this time?" Spike's tone was flat, but his eyes were accusing.

"W-wait, guys," Rudy raised his hands, probably trying to calm their friends down as they started to barrage Dellons' with question and accusation.

"Oh, Dellons, you such a—" Eileen also started to say and frown, while Rachel was scowling along with her.

"Rudy misunderstood something," Kris finally intervened before anyone started shouting. Everyone went quiet immediately and looked at Kris with question in their eyes, almost disbelieving that he actually stood up for Dellons instead of for Rudy. "He thought Dellons _attacked_ me, so Rudy's fist reacted first before he could comprehend what actually happened."

"Dellons did _what_?!" Now Jave stood up, anger in his face and voice. The others narrowed their eyes at Dellons instantly, promising _violence_ if he really did that to Kris. Dellons shivered slightly receiving such evil glare from his friends.

_It's always such a pain being the bad guy—_ Dellons lamented inwardly.

"It was a misunderstanding!" Rudy yelped immediately, once again trying to calm them down. "It… really was just a misunderstanding, because Dellons would never do that to Kris… He wouldn't!" He sounded and looked so earnest, as he tried to convince their friends that Dellons couldn't help chuckling at how _adorable_ it was.

It was a mistake to laugh though, because everyone immediately glared at Dellons again. "What's so funny, Dellons?" Eileen was the one asking, frowning harder while cracking her knuckles.

"No, well," Dellons sniggered again. "The one misunderstanding anything was actually me," he said finally. "I was under the impression that Princess was seducing me, you know, so I _did_ attack him, but that happened only because he was receptive of my advance as of late," he continued.

"In your dream," Spike's monotone voice retorted.

"Well, he wasn't such a bad company lately, especially when Rudy was avoiding me," Kris shrugged and the others gasped in shock, looking completely askance at him.

"Kris!" Rudy gave him a wounded puppy look, looking even guiltier now.

"And if Dellons didn't do what he did earlier, you wouldn't even realize how you feel toward me, would you?" Kris turned to face Rudy now, giving him a flirty smile.

There was a moment of pregnant silence as the others tried to digest what just happened in front of them before—

"Oh my God! Finally!" Jave beamed and cheered, finally realizing the situation.

"It's such a long and hard journey for you to finally get here!" Eileen looked as enthusiastic as Jave as she grabbed Rachel and hugged her in her unconstrained happiness.

"Congratulation, Kris, Rudy," Rachel smiled, actually wiping tears from one of her cheeks.

Spike gave the couple a small smile as his way of giving his blessing, and just like that everyone had forgotten about their anger on Dellons. It never failed to amaze Dellons sometimes of how amazing this group of people was. It seriously never bore him to be in the middle of their circle.

Rudy seemed bewildered and his blush never faded as he smiled sheepishly at his friends' easy, happy acceptance of his and Kris' relationship. He even had the gall to look surprised when they congratulated him and Kris.

"Did-did everyone actually know about this already?" Rudy seemed confused, which was a cute look on his face.

"Of course we knew. How many years have we been friends, seriously? You were so dense it almost drove us crazy repeatedly. When we watched you guys, it was so painfully obvious that we never understood how you never noticed," Jave huffed, still smiling widely. "But _finally_! I guess Dellons got the credit for getting you guys together. You did _good_ , Dellons!" Now the kid turned at Dellons and beamed at him with sparkling golden eyes.

"With this we finally can put away the weird three-way relationship you three have been dancing around each other for, for good," Rachel sighed, sounding relieved. Eileen nodded repeatedly while making agreeing sound.

"Now, just a minute, here, _ladies_ ," Dellons smirked, a vein popped up on his temple. "Who said about putting away _our_ relationship for good? I have no intention of giving up on winning my Princess' heart," he said, shifting his gaze to Rudy, challenging, and Rudy looked startled as he saw Dellons' eyes.

Well, now Rudy knew that Dellons was _serious_.

"Dellons?" Rudy looked at him with confused, questioning eyes.

"I am happy that you got together," Dellons said, softening his smile and expression slightly before changing his look into provoking once again. "But I have no intention of giving up, _ever_ ," he said before standing up and starting to leave.

"W-wait, Dellons!" Rudy was about follow him, but Dellons saw in the corner of his eyes that Kris held him back before whispering something in Rudy's ear. Then he caught Kris' ruby colored gaze on him and he smirked again as he got out.

**#**

Dellons left the room, almost dramatically, and the kitchen stayed in shocked silence before Jave screeched while fuming.

"I can't believe him! How could he say that?!"

"Well, that's Dellons for you. He never does anything in an easy way," Spike rolled his eyes, easily accepting that their troublesome friend would always be _troublesome_.

"What do we do with him?" Rachel sighed, almost glumly as Eileen muttered something about stupid man and their stupid feelings.

"Will Dellons be okay?" Rudy looked disheartened and Kris had no idea how to perceive Dellons' gaze at him earlier.

Dellons seemed to be making a point, that he didn't think that Rudy and Kris being together would deter his feelings toward Kris, but… there was something else that Kris caught from his gaze. It almost felt like that… it was also a _challenge_ for Kris, but a challenge at _what_ exactly?

"Maybe I will speak to him tomorrow," Kris decided.

"Do you need me there? I think I should be there. This is also my problem as much as yours after all. Dellons is my best friend, and I want to understand him," Rudy said, sounding concerned, but determined as well.

"I am not going to prevent you if you want to be there. It's probably going to be an excruciating conversation, though." Kris shrugged.

"All the more reason I ought to be there then," Rudy nodded and the others looked at them approvingly.

"But, putting Dellons' stupid provocation aside, I am really glad that you two got together," Eileen said, smiling again happily. "Now we can tease you both as much as we want and _both_ of you will get it," she laughed after that.

Rudy blushed again and Kris let out a long suffering sigh. "I regret telling you guys already," he lamented quietly and now even Rachel couldn't help giggling at that while Jave burst out laughing together with Eileen.

Spike, as always, only shook his head slightly dealing with his friends' antics.

* * *

**~ A Seven Knights Fan Fiction ~**

* * *

The next day, Kris found Dellons smoking at the veranda just after everyone else was done with breakfast.

Dellons skipped breakfast, though, and despite Rudy calling and knocking on his door, Dellons had ignored him. Now, after breakfast and everyone was busy with their own thing, Kris went up to talk to Dellons.

_Rudy should have been here, but… he said he had something to do this morning, an important tutoring session that he can't miss. I should wait for him, but… I think I need to talk to Dellons alone first before getting Rudy involved._

Kris stared at Dellons back for a moment before he spoke.

"It's not like you at all," Kris said tentatively and Dellons, seemingly not surprised at all that he got company, gave him a smirk after he glanced back at him.

"What aren't you satisfied with now, Princess? Haven't you gotten the Prince's heart?" His tone was teasing and mocking, and his smirk was rather annoying, but the gleam in his eyes told another story.

"Rudy said you were serious about me." Kris stated after he got closer to Dellons, never breaking his gaze.

"Well, it wasn't a lie," Dellons shrugged, blowing out the smoke out of his breath before he put it off with his thumb and index finger, letting the cigarette butt drop before squishing it with his heel. He turned back and gave Kris a teasing smirk.

"Yet you don't seem about to give up despite our current status." Kris looked at him straightly in the eyes and Dellons' baby blue eyed shone with gravity. "If you were serious… then shouldn't you be happy for me? _Us_? Rudy is you best friend, and if you really _love_ me, then you have to let go."

Dellons chuckled at that. "Haven't I told you? You're my one and only Princess," Dellons said, reaching out his hand to touch Kris' cheek. "There's literally nothing in this world that can make me give up on you," he caressed it, his eyes staring at Kris' softly and gently, and Kris couldn't help holding his breath as he almost felt moved by Dellons' words.

"But I haven't told about a tiny little fact that always follows how I feel about you," Dellons continued and Kris blinked, rather bewildered because Dellons smile was _strange_.

"What is it?" Kris was curious. Despite not returning Dellons' feeling, he wanted to know how his friend was thinking.

"You might have been my Princess, Kris, but Rudy… he's my _Prince_." Dellons said while leaning into Kris' face and then kissed the corner of his mouth.

Kris' head went blank at the words and Dellons' bold action.

Well, he was more shocked at Dellons' words though.

_Rudy is… his Prince?_

What the hell was that supposed to mean?!

**End of Round 10**

Tbc…

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand, it gets even more complicated, despite finally Rudy and Kris getting together. *laughs* No worries, like I typed at the top, this story is almost done. It will finally make sense in next chapter. So… what do you think? Comment please! I want to know how you guys think of this development!
> 
> **Teaser:**
> 
> This… shouldn't have happened at all.
> 
> Dellons stared at the data in his hands and then to the failed experiment that was wailing and rampaging in pain and rage.
> 
> _The vassal is not compatible with shard of destruction?_
> 
> He shifted his leg and crossed it the other way around as he sighed in his throne. "Bai Jiao," he called for the Emperor Advisor that assisted him in manipulating Pascal into trying to awaken his power.
> 
> "Yes, Lord Dellons?" Bai Jiao looked upward at him with question in his eyes.
> 
> "Pascal can manipulate space, can't he?" he asked.
> 
> "Only part of his power, but only to summon beast from another dimension," Bai Jiao explained.
> 
> "Hmm… that will be enough. I only need the data about that dimension he opens to summon his beast." Dellons said, a smirk slowly blooming in his face.
> 
> "Only the data, Milord?" Bai Jiao raised his eyebrows.
> 
> "Yes. The rest of the information will be gathered by my counterpart in that distant-distant world…"


End file.
